40 
seen in American gardens. It might well be better known and more 
generally used for there is no other plant so well suited to cover the 
brick or stone walls of tall buildings in the northern United States. 
Schizophragma hydrangeoides, also a native of Japan, can be seen on 
the wall of the Administration Building next to the Hydrangeas. It 
blooms later. 
Rhododendron (Azalea) calendulaceum. The plants of this Appalach¬ 
ian Azales now in flower on Azalea Path and the Laurels and Rhodo¬ 
dendrons at the northern base of Hemlock Hill have been during the 
past ten days the brilliant features of the Arboretum. The flowers of 
this Azalea vary from clear yellow to flame color, and unlike the Azaleas 
which bloom in early spring like the Appalachian R. Vaseyi and the Kor¬ 
ean R. Schlippenbachii the leaves are fully grown before the flowers 
open. This adds to the beauty of this Azalea when it is flowering and 
makes it for many persons the most beautiful as it is the showiest of 
the American Azaleas. The flame-colored Azalea has been largely used 
in Europe in the making of the Ghent Hybrid Azaleas, and these are 
hardy, long-lived and valuable in this climate in proportion to the pre¬ 
ponderance of this American plant in their parentage. 
Cornus kousa. The attention of northern gardeners is again called 
to this tree which is the Japanese representative of the “Flowering 
Dogwoods” of North America. Here in Massachusetts the western 
species Cornus Nuttallii, which has never been a particularly success¬ 
ful plant in cultivation, is not hardy; and the flower-buds of the east¬ 
ern species {Cornus florida) and its varieties are often killed in severe 
winters unless the trees are in exceptionally protected and sheltered 
positions. During the past winter the flower-buds on nearly all the 
trees in eastern Massachusetts were killed, with the exception of those 
on the branches which had been covered by snow. It is interesting there¬ 
fore to find that the Japanese tree has not before been more thickly 
covered with open and uninjured flowers than it is this week. The 
flower-bracts, which are the conspicuous part of the inflorescence, are 
narrower than those of Cornus florida and are pointed, not rounded at 
apex. The individual infloresence of the American tree is larger and 
perhaps more beautiful than that of the Japanese tree, but as this does 
not open until the leaves are nearly full grown Cornus kousa at this 
season of the year is an object of exquisite beauty. The form of this 
tree discovered by Wilson in western China and now growing with 
other Chinese plants on the southern slope of Bussey Hill is also now 
covered with uninjured flowers and their bracts. The bracts are wider 
and closer together than those of the Japanese plant making the Chi¬ 
nese form even a handsomer garden plant. In the American plants 
the scarlet drupes are gathered in an erect head but are not united, 
but in the Asiatic plants they are firmly joined together in a compact 
globose head which is suspended from the branch on a slender stem. 
This habit of the fruit adds to the beauy of the plants in autumn when 
the leaves assume as brilliant a color as those of the American plant. 
The Chinese form of Cornus kousa produces quantities of fruit in the 
Arboretum and there is no reason why it should not become common 
in American gardens. 
