tbc national nurseryman, 
FOR GROWERS AND DEALERS IN NURSERY STOCK 
The National Nurseryman Publishing Co., Incorporated 
Vol. XXIV. HATBORO, PENNA., NOVEMBER, 1916 No. 11 
Noteworthy Plants at the Arnold Arboretum 
Gordonia alatamaha. With the exception of the 
Witch Hazel, which in this latitude is a shrub rather than 
a tree, this Gordonia is the last tree of the year to flower 
in the Arboretum, and its pure white, cup-shaped flowers, 
resembling a single Camellia flower, can now be seen on 
the plants on Azalea Path and on Hickory Path near Cen¬ 
tre Street. This handsome little tree has an interesting 
history. It was discovered by John Bartram, the famous 
Pennsylvania traveler and botanist, in 1765 near Fort 
Barrington on the Altamaha River in Georgia. John Bar- 
tram’s son William visited the locality in 1778 and col¬ 
lected seeds and roots of this tree, and Dr. Moses Mar¬ 
shall who visited the locality in 1790 was the last botanist 
who has seen it growing naturally. Many botanists 
have hunted for it in vain in the neighborhood of Fort 
Barrington but without success, and this tree has been 
preserved by the plants and seeds collected by William 
Bartram and their descendants. Many of these are 
growing in gardens near Philadelphia and there are large 
and very old specimens in the neglected arboreta of the 
Brothers Painter at Medina and of John Evans in Radnor 
Township, Delaware County. Good plants may be seen 
in Fairmount Park near the Horticultural Building and 
in a few private gardens near the city. This Gordonia 
has been an inhabitant of the Arboretum for many years 
where it flowers in sheltered positions every autumn. 
Late in the season the leaves turn orange and scarlet be¬ 
fore falling. 
Summer and autumn fruits. The interesting and 
often brilliant fruits of many trees and shrubs can be 
found in the Arboretum every year from July to March, 
and although this is hot a remarkably good season for 
fruits here some plants are producing unusually large 
and brilliantly colored crops. Nowhere else are the 
fruits of trees and shrubs more attractive and more beau¬ 
tiful than in the northeastern United States, but the value 
of fruit-bearing plants for the decoration of summer and 
autumn gardens is hardly appreciated yet by American 
gardeners who are slow to realize that plants which are 
interesting for their flowers and fruits and increase in 
beauty from year to year make a setting for the gardens 
of eastern America which cannot be found in any other 
land. Such plants abound in the Arboretum and no¬ 
where else can the fruits, of trees and shrubs hardy in 
New England be seen and studied to such advantage. 
Crataegus Arnoldiana. This Thorn is a native of 
eastern Massachusetts and one of the first of the American 
species raised at the Arboretum where it was found grow¬ 
ing wild on a wooded bank. It is a tree with a well 
developed trunk, erect and spreading branches which are 
furnished with many long stout thorns, the smaller 
branches being conspicuously zigzag. The flowers are 
large in ample clusters and open with the unfolding of 
the leaves which later grow to a good size, and are dark 
green in color. The fruit, however, is the handsomest 
thing about this tree; it is nearly globose, about an inch 
in diameter and bright red, and beginning to ripen from 
the middle to the end of August falls gradually the end 
of September or early in October. Of the Thorns in the 
Arboretum collection with early-ripening fruits C. Ar¬ 
noldiana is the handsomest, and as a fruit tree it may well 
find a place in every American garden in which an early 
autumn display is desired. 
Crataegus pinnatifida. This is a native of north¬ 
eastern Asia and has long been an inhabitant of the Ar¬ 
boretum. It is a large shrub or small tree with large, 
deeply divided, dark green very lustrous leaves, large 
flowers, and bright scarlet fruit which ripens while the 
leaves are still green. This is one of the handsomest of 
all Thorns, and it is economically interesting because one 
of the large-fruited forms is cultivated in orchards as a 
fruit tree in the neighborhood of Peking and in other 
parts of northern China. There is a large specimen of 
this Thorn among the Maples near the parkway boundary 
of the Arboretum and others can be seen in the Crataegus 
Collection on the eastern slope of Peter’s Hill and on the 
Bussey Hill Overlook. 
Viburnum cassanoides. There are only small crops of 
fruit on several of the American Viburnums this year but 
that of this inhabitant of northern swamps has never been 
larger or in better condition. As it grows naturally Vi¬ 
burnum cassinoides is a tall and usually unsymmetric.il 
shrub, but in good soil it develops into a broad, round- 
topped compact bush. The leaves are thick, dark green 
and lustrous. The creamy white flowers are produced 
in large convex clusters, and the fruit when fully grown 
is at first nearly white, turning as it ripens bright pink 
and finally dark blue, berries of the three colors often 
appearing together in the same cluster. This Viburnum 
is a fast-growing and perfectly hardy shrub, and there 
are few plants which combine so much beauty of foliage, 
flowers and fruits. It has been largely used in the Ar¬ 
boretum and good plants can be seen in many of the 
roadside plantations, especially by the road at the ton of 
Peter’s Hill. 
The Chinese Viburnums. As compared with most of 
the American and some of the Japanese species the new 
Viburnums from western China are of small value as 
