30 
tiful small tree better suited to the New England climate than L. ann- 
gyroides, and a good plant for the decoration of a June garden. L. 
Watereri appears to be little known in this country. The third species 
of Laburnum, L. caramanicum, a native of Greece and Asia Minor, has 
been planted in the Arboretum but has not proved hardy here. 
Arborescent Viburnums. Four Viburnums assume the habit of small 
trees in the Arboretum. Three of these are eastern American, V. 
prunifolium, V. Lentogo and V. rufidulvm, and one is Japanese, V. Sie- 
boldii. Viburnum prunifolium,, which is known popularly as the Black 
Haw, is a common shrub in the middle Atlantic states where in early 
spring, on rocky hillsides and along roadsides and the borders of woods, 
it rivals in the beauty of its flowers the flowering Dogwood {Cornus 
florida) which naturally grows in open woods and not in such exposed 
positions as the Black Haw. Viburnum nudiflorum is a large arbor¬ 
escent shrub or a small tree rarely thirty feet high, with a short trunk 
usually less than a foot in diameter, rigid spreading branches beset 
with slender spine-like branchlets, ovate to suborbicular, thick, dark 
green and lustrous leaves which, handsome through the summer, are 
splendid in the autumn with their dark vinous red or scarlet colors. 
The white flowers in slightly convex clusters have been produced here 
this spring in the greatest profusion; in the autumn they will be fol¬ 
lowed by red-stemmed drooping clusters of dark blue fruit covered with 
a glaucous bloom, and from half an inch to three-quarters of an inch 
long. The Black Haw, which is one of the handsomest of the small 
trees of the eastern United States, takes kindly to cultivation and is 
quite hardy north of the region of its natural distribution which is in 
southern Connecticut. It has generally escaped the attention of Amer¬ 
ican nurserymen who in recent years have made better known our 
northern arborescent Viburnum Lenta go, the Sheepberry or Nanny- 
berry, a usually larger and for some persons a handsomer plant. The 
flowers, which are arranged in larger and rather flatter clusters, are 
pale cream color and not white, but the fruit is as handsome as that 
of the Black Haw and rather larger. The leaves, too, are larger, 
equally lustrous, and also assume brilliant autumn colors. This Vibur¬ 
num can grow in the shade of larger trees or in open situations which 
it prefers. In both May and early June the Arboretum owes much 
beauty to the flowers of these tree Viburnums, especially to those of 
V. Lentago which has been planted in large numbers along the drives 
and in the border plantations and is now covered with flowers. Vibur¬ 
num Jackii, evidently a hybrid between V. Lentago and V. prunifolium 
with characters intermediate between those of its parents, was detected 
a few years ago by Professor Jack in one of the Arboretum plantations. 
An interesting plant it is not more valuable for the decoration of gar¬ 
dens than either of its parents. More beautiful than the Black Haw 
or the Nannyberry, the common tree Viburnum of the southern states, 
V. rufidulum is perhaps the handsomest of all the Viburnums with 
deciduous leaves. When it has grown under the most favorable condi¬ 
tions this Viburnum is a tree often forty feet high, with a tall stout 
trunk and branches which spread nearly at right angles from it; 
the leaves are thick, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, 
with winged stalks covered, as are the winter-buds, with a thick felt 
