40 
Cormis amoimm, the Silky Cornel, which has been much used in the 
Arboretum, is now opening its flowers. In cultivation it is not a 
satisfactory plant unless it can be given sufficient room for its wide- 
spreading branches to extend freely over the ground. When crowded 
by other plants the branches become erect and it loses its real beauty 
and value. To be seen at its best this Cornel should have a clear 
space with a diameter of not less than twenty feet in which to spread. 
It is well suited for the front of groups of trees and shrubs, and there 
is no better shrub to plant by the margins of ponds and streams where 
its long branches can hang gracefully over the water. Its purple stems 
are attractive in winter, and the bright blue fruits which ripen in the 
autumn add to the value of this native shrub. In the Cornel Group, 
at the junction of the Meadow and the Bussey Hill Roads, there is a 
good specimen of this plant, and its value for planting near water can 
be seen on the border of the small pond in the rear of the Cornel 
Group. 
Red-fruited Viburnums. With the exception of the species which 
belong to the Opulus Group no American Viburnums have red fruit, 
but in eastern Asia there are several red-fruited species. The hand¬ 
somest of these in the Arboretum is V. dilatatum, which is a native 
of Japan, Korea, and western China. It is a large, shapely and vigor¬ 
ous shrub with broad, abruptly pointed leaves and wide flat clusters of 
flowers which are followed by small bright red fruits. This is a good 
shrub for the decoration of summer and Autumn gardens. The fruit 
is smaller and less showy than that of another red-fruited Japanese 
species, V. Wrightii. This is a smaller shrub and flowers earlier than 
V. dilatatum. The flower-clusters are smaller and the plants are not 
always perfectly hardy in exposed situations, but the fruit is larger 
and handsomer than that of the other red-fruited Virburnums of eastern 
Asia. Another of these plants, V. theiferum, from western China is 
not yet in flower. It is a tall narrow shrub with erect stems, small 
leaves and small flower-clusters. It has little to recommend it as a 
flowering plant but the fruit is large, abundant and of good color, and 
the plant has an economic interest as an infusion of the leaves is the 
“sweet tea” used by the monks of the monasteries on Mt. Omei, one 
of the five sacred mountains of China. 
Potentilla fruticosa Veitchii. Nearly all the shrubby species of this 
genus and their hybrids are attractive plants with yellow, white or 
cream-colored flowers which look like miniature Roses. P. fruticosa is 
pretty generally distributed in most of the countries of the Northern 
Hemisphere, and in the western part of Massachusetts has now taken 
such possession of the ground that it has ruined hundreds of acres of 
upland pastures. The flowers are bright yellow, but on a variety from 
western China (var. Veitchii) the flowers are pure white. This is a 
dwarf shrub which blooms here freely every year, and the plants are 
covered during several weeks with flowers which begin to open at the 
the end of May. This plant can be seen in the Shrub Collection and 
with the other Chinese plants on Bussey Hill. 
