380 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
flowering plants, but at least two ol them, V. theiferum 
and V. hupehense, deserve a plaee in the garden for their 
handsome fruits. That of V. theiferum is found in 
broad, long-stalked, drooping clusters and is oval and 
about half an inch long. Early in October this fruit is 
light orange color and very lustrous but later becomes 
scarlet. This Viburnum has grown very rapidly in the 
Arboretum where it forms a broad shrub with rather 
spreading steins. The leaves are thick, long and nar¬ 
row, dark dull green, conspicuously veined, and hang on 
long stalks; the flowers are small, and in small, compact 
clusters. The leaves are used by the Chinese in the 
mountain regions of the west as a substitute lor those ot 
the Tea plant. As it grows here it proves to be the best 
of the numerous Viburnums introduced by Wilson. Vi¬ 
burnum hupehense is a vigorous shrub with erect stems, 
smaller and thinner leaves than those of V. theiferum, and 
globose scarlet fruits about one-third of an inch in 
diameter, in broad lax, many-fruited clusters. Of no 
particular beauty when in flower, just now this plant is 
one of the most attractive of the red-fruited Viburnums 
in the collection. These two plants can be seen in the 
general Viburnum Collection on the right-hand side of 
the Bussey Hill Road and to better advantage in the col¬ 
lection of Chinese shrubs on the southern slope of Bussey 
Hill. 
Malus SiEBOLDir, var. calocarpa. In the collection of 
Crabapples at the eastern base of Peter s Hill there is 
now no more beautiful plant than this large-flowered, 
large-fruited form of a common Japanese plant. As it 
grows in the Arboretum this Crabapple is a bush eight 
or ten feet tall and broad with dark green leaves which 
are oblong and slightly toothed on the fruiting branches 
and broad and deeply three-lobed on vigorous shoots. 
The flowers are rose-colored and white, and from an inch 
to nearly an inch and a quarter in diameter, and the 
large, bright red lustrous fruits are sometimes nearly an 
inch in diameter. This beautiful Crabapple was raised 
at the Arboretum from seeds sent here from Japan by Dr. 
W. Strugis Bigelow and it is doubtful if it is known in 
many other gardens. In this climate Malus Sieboldii. 
var. calocarpa is a garden plant of the first class. 
Malus baccata, var. Jackii. This variety of the com¬ 
mon Crabapple of eastern Siberia was raised at the Ar¬ 
boretum from seeds collected by Mr. J. G. Jack at Seoul 
in 1905 and has proved one of the handsomest and most 
interesting of the different forms of Malus baccata in the 
Arboretum where it is established in the Crabapple Col¬ 
lection at the eastern base of Peter’s Hill. The trees, 
although small, are shapely in habit with clean stems and 
spreading branches. The leaves are thick, almost coria¬ 
ceous, long-stalked, from four to six inches in length, 
very dark rather dull green above and pale below. The 
pure white flowers are nearly two inches in diameter, 
and the fruit, which is now nearly ripe, hangs gracefully 
on long red drooping stems. It is about half of an inch 
long, rather longer than broad, deep crimson and very 
lustrous. This is a valuable addition to the list of Crab- 
apples which can be successfully cultivated in this cli¬ 
mate. Unfortunately the new Crabapples which have 
been introduced in recent years from eastern Asia can 
only reach other gardens slowly for the plants in a large 
collection like that of the Arboretum hybridize so persis¬ 
tently that seedlings raised from seeds produced here are 
rarely like the seed parents, and the Arboretum Crab¬ 
apples in their true form can only be obtained by grafting 
or budding. 
Chinese Cotoneasters. The handsomest shrubs in the 
Arboretum during nearly the entire month of September 
was a form from western China of Cotoneaster racemi- 
ftora which has been called variety soongorica. It is a 
tall shrub with spreading and drooping stems,pale leaves, 
white flowers, and large bright red fruits which com¬ 
pletely cover the branches. Some of the Chinese species 
have more conspicuous flowers and handsomer foliage,but 
none of them have yet equalled in the Arboretum this in¬ 
habitant of the dry arid river valleys of western 
Szech’uan in the size, brilliancy and abundance of their 
fruits. 
Cotoneaster divaricata. Of the large-growing Chin¬ 
ese species this is perhaps the handsomest at this time, 
for the small bright red fruits which are produced in 
great abundance make a handsome contrast with the 
small, dark green, shining leaves. The flowers of this 
shrub are small and bright rose color. The new Chinese 
Cotoneasters are best seen on the southern slope of Bus¬ 
sey Hill, and the collection will repay careful study as it 
contains some of the most valuable shrubs for American 
gardens of recent introduction. 
The Sassafras. There is now no more beautiful tree 
on the margins of New England woods and by New Eng¬ 
land roadsides than the Sassafras, as the leaves have 
turned or are turning orange or yellow more or less tinged 
with red. The autumn colors of several trees are more 
brilliant but none of them equal the Sassafras in the 
warmth and delicacy of their autumn dress. The Sas¬ 
safras is a handsome tree at other seasons of the year. 
In winter it is conspicuous by its deeply furrowed, dark 
cinnamon-gray bark and slender light green branches; in 
early spring before the leaves appear it is covered with 
innumerable clusters of small bright yellow flowers 
which make it at that season a conspicuous and delight¬ 
ful object. The leaves are thick, dark green and lus¬ 
trous above, paler below, and vary remarkably in shape 
as they are sometimes deeply three-lobed at the apex and 
sometimes entire without a trace ot lobes. The fruit is 
a bright blue berry surrounded at the base by the much 
enlarged and thickened scarlet calyx of the flower and 
raised on a long bright red stalk. No other northern 
tree produces such brilliantly colored fruit. Unfortun¬ 
ately there is little time to enjoy it for the birds eagerly 
seek it as it ripens. The living wood of the Sassafras is not 
attacked by borers and the leaves are not destroyed and 
are rarely disfigured by insects. The thick spongy roots 
of the Sassafras produce suckers freely and these with a 
little care can be easily and safely transplanted. How 
many persons now plant Sassafras and in what American 
nursery can it be found? It was, however, one of the 
first North American trees carried to Europe as it was 
established in England some time before the middle of 
the seventeenth century. The American tree was be¬ 
lieved to be the only Sassafras until 1879 when another 
species. S. tzuma, was discovered in central China. This 
tree is now in the Arboretum but its ability to grow here 
has not yet been established. 
