6 
hardy tree with a comparatively narrow head of erect branches. Near 
it in the Plum collection is also blooming the Apricot from eastern 
Siberia and Manchuria, Primus sibirica, another hardy and handsome 
tree which appears to be little known in this country. Another species, 
Prunus mandshurica, has fewer flowers this spring. In its native 
country this is a low tree with a trunk sometimes three feet in diam¬ 
eter and wide-spreading branches. As it grows in the Arboretum this 
is the handsomest of the Apricots in habit and foliage. Another of 
these trees, Prunus dasycarpa, the so-called “Black Apricot” from 
the dark color of its slightly downy fruit blooms a little later and is 
now only opening its flowers. This tree, which has been cultivated for 
a long time in European gardens, is now believed to be a hybrid be¬ 
tween the Apricot and the European Garden Plum. Little known in 
the United States, when in good flower it is one of the most beautiful 
objects in the Arboretum. The small hard fruit has been rarely seen 
here. 
Cherries are placed by many authors in the genera Cerasus, Lauro- 
cerasus and Padus, here considered sections of the genus Prunus. 
This is the most numerous in species and the most widely distributed of 
all the groups of the genus Prunus, and among the Cherries are some 
of the most beautiful when in flower of the trees and shrubs which can 
be grown in northern gardens. The earliest to bloom this year has been 
Prunus tomentosa, an early introduction by the Arboretum from 
northern China, has proved to be one of the handsomest of the early 
spring flowering shrubs in the neighborhood of Boston. It is a 
vigorous plant five or six feet high and when well grown often broader 
than tall. The flowers open from pink buds as the leaves unfold and 
their bright red stalk and calyx make a handsome contrast with the 
white petals often marked with rose. The small lustrous scarlet juicy 
fruit which ripens in June has an excellent flavor and is attracting the 
attention of pomologists living in regions of extreme winter cold like 
the Dakotas and Manitoba where this inhabitant of the mountain slopes 
in the neighborhood of Peking has proven perfectly hardy. A variety 
(var. endotricha) brought from western China by Wilson flowers a few 
days later. This variety is chiefly distinguished from the north China 
plant by the absence of the hairs on the fruit. 
Prunus subhirtella. This, the Spring Cherry of the Japanese, is the 
most delightful, travellers say, of the Japanese Cherries and as usual 
has been covered with flowers which opened on the 28th of April before 
the leaves began to unfold. Pink when they open the petals become 
nearly white before they fall. Prunus subhirtella is not known as a 
wild plant, and not uncommon in the gardens of western Japan is not 
often seen in those of Tokio. This is perhaps the reason why it has 
been less often sent to this country. The fact, too, that it does not 
reproduce itself from seeds is another reason why the “Spring Cherry” 
is still so rarely seen in the United States and Europe. The two large 
plants on the right hand side of the Forest Hills Road have been grow¬ 
ing in the Arboretum for twenty-nine years, and when they are in 
flower no other plant in the collection. Cherry, Plum, Crabapple, Lilac, 
