52 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
PYRAMIDAL TREES 
S EVERAL of the species of trees of the northern 
hemisphere have produced individuals with erect 
growing branches which give them an abnormal 
fastigiate habit. Such trees are interesting in illustra¬ 
ting the variation in habit of trees, and several of them 
are valuable when used with discretion to produce cer¬ 
tain effects in decorative planting. The best known of 
these trees is the Lombardy Poplar, a form of the Black 
Poplar of Europe (. Populus nigra var. italica). Some 
authors have supposed that this tree originated in one 
of the countries of western Asia, but it is now more gen¬ 
erally believed that it sprang up in northern Italy early 
in the eighteenth century. The trees are all males and 
have all been propagated from cuttings; and it is not im¬ 
probable that all of these trees now scattered over a large 
part of the world are descended from a single individual. 
It is a very hardy, fast-growing tree, and is able to adapt 
itself to very different climatic conditions. Nowhere 
perhaps can such fine specimens be seen as are now 
growing in the central valley of Chile, and it is equally 
at home in all parts of North America. The Lombardy 
Poplar is a great favorite with some members of the 
younger school of American landscape gardeners, but 
unfortunately in this part of the country it often suffers 
severely from the attacks of a borer so that it is not prob¬ 
able that large trees will ever become too common here. 
There is also a fastigiate form of the Silver Poplar of 
Europe and western Asia ( Populus alba, var. pyramid- 
alls, but better known as P. Bolleana). This tree is a 
native of central Asia but has become common in the 
United States and Europe in the forty years since it was 
first sent to Germany. It is as fastigiate in habit as the 
Lombardy Poplar, and has the advantage over it in the 
greater variation, shape and color of the leaves. There 
is a Poplar with pale nearly white bark which resembles 
the Lombardy Poplar in habit and foliage and which has 
been called Populus thevestina. It occurs in Servia, the 
Crimea and Algeria. The young plants in the Arbor¬ 
etum are hardy and are growing well. One of the nar¬ 
rowest and most remarkable of all these trees is the fas¬ 
tigiate form of the Sugar Maple, Acer saccharum, var. 
monumentale, which was found in 1885 in a cemetery in 
Newton, Massachusetts. There is a good specimen of 
this interesting tree established in the Maple Collection. 
It may prove valuable for planting by the sides of narrow 
roads. There is a form of the Red Maple ( Acer rubrum, 
var. columnare) in the collection. This is rather broader 
than the fastigiate Sugar Maple but is a good addition to 
the list of these plants. The graft from which the Ar¬ 
boretum specimen was raised was obtained in 1889 from 
the Parsons Nursery on Long Island. Beyond this noth¬ 
ing is known of the origin of this tree. There is also a 
pyramidal form of the Silver Maple ( Acer saccharinum 
var. pyramidale ). This originated in a European nur¬ 
sery and there are only small specimens in the Arbore¬ 
tum. The only Old World Maple which has produced 
one of these sports is the Norway Maple ( Acer plata- 
noides, var. columnare) . This tree is established in the 
Arboretum collection and is a broader tree than the 
American fastigiate Maples. The fastigiate Tulip tree 
(Liriodendron Tulipifera, var. pyramidale ) is one of the 
handsomest of these trees; it originated in the nursery of 
Simon Louis near Metz in Alsace and has been growing 
in the Arboretum since 1888. There is a good specimen 
with the other Tulip-trees on the right-hand side of the 
Meadow Road. The Linden genus appears to have pro¬ 
duced but one of these trees, the var. pyramidalis of the 
European Tilia platyphyllos. This tree tapers from a 
broad base to a pointed apex and is pyramidal rather 
than fastigiate in outline. The fastigiate form of one of 
the Oaks of western Europe ( Quercus pedunculata, var. 
fastigiata) sometimes grows in Europe to a large size; 
it is hardy in this country and grows rapidly, but, like 
the other European Oaks, it is short-lived here and rarely 
lives more than thirty or forty years. One of the most 
interesting of all the fastigiate trees is a European Beech 
growing at Dawyck, Mr. F. R. S. Balfour’s estate in 
Peebleshire, Scotland. It is a tall and evidently an old 
tree to which the name of Fagus sylvatica, var. Dawychi 
has been given. This tree has recently been propagated 
by nurserymen and there is a small plant in the Arbor¬ 
etum with the other Beeches near the South Street en¬ 
trance. There are two fastigiate forms of the European 
Hornbeam in the Arboretum collection ( Carpinus Betu- 
lus, var. pyramidalis and var. globosa). The first is 
pyramidal rather than fastigiate, and the second, in spite 
of its name, is a dwarf, very compact, fastigiate plant. 
They are in the Hornbeam Collection on the right-hand 
side of the Meadow Road opposite the Oaks. There is 
only one fastigiate Birch, the var. fastigiata of the Euro¬ 
pean Betula pendula or verrucosa. This is distinctly 
fastigiate in habit, with a narrow head of erect branches. 
A specimen of this tree may be seen on the Bussey Hill 
Road with the other Birches. One of the narrowest of 
all these trees is the fastigiate form of the Scotch Elm 
(Ulmus glabra, var. fastigiata) which is sometimes 
called in England the Exeter Elm, as it was raised in a 
nursery in Exeter about ninety years ago. This tree has 
little beauty. More beautiful and interesting is a geo¬ 
graphical form of the European Ulmus nitens (var. 
stricta) . This is the common Elm in Cornwall and some 
parts of Devonshire, and is usually called the Cornish 
Elm. It is a tree sometimes eighty feet tall with a trunk 
occasionally five feet in diameter, with short ascending 
upper branches and lower branches curving upward. A 
tree which is often considered now a form of the Cornish 
Elm (var. Wheatleyi) has a similar habit and is usually 
called the Guernsey Elm. It sometimes appears in nur¬ 
sery catalogues under the name of Ulmus campestris 
monumentalis. The European Crataegus monogyna 
has produced vars. stricta and monumentalis. The for¬ 
mer is a tree with a broad head of erect branches, and can 
be seen in the old Crataegus Collection next to the park¬ 
way wall. The latter, which is a narrower and strictly 
pyramidal plant, is new in the Arboretum. A fastigiate 
form of the European Horsechestnut (Aesculus Hippo- 
castanum, var. pyramidalis ) has appeared in a European 
nursery but is not yet in the Arboretum. 
Fastigiate Conifers. In the pinetum are young trees 
of the White Pine ( Pinus Strobus, var. fastigiata ) with 
