34 
Oriental Flowering Trees and Shrubs 
Tlie following description is from an Arnold Arboretum Bulletin: 
*Tlie pygmy of the Crabapple family is M. Sargenti, with umbellate clus¬ 
ters of saucer-shape flowers of the purest white, in which nestle a tiny group 
of stamens tipped with clear yellow anthers. It is a low, densely branched 
shrub which hugs the ground, and is preeminently suited for planting on 
banks. The fruit is 
wine-red, covered 
with a slight bloom, 
and long persistent.’ 
Malus Scheideckeri is 
similar to Spectabilis, but 
Spectabilis ha s more glossy 
foliage and different color 
wood. Scheideckeri has 
double, pink flowers car¬ 
ried in bottle-brush forma¬ 
tion on the stems for the 
entire length of the branch, 
frequently three feet or 
more, but the yellow, heavy 
fruit, valuable for jelly, hangs 
down. It tends to grow as a bush, 
with many branches from the ground up. 
Malus Spectabilis is a more vigorous 
growing tree than Scheideckeri and would 
have to be a few years older to produce 
flowers. The flowers are approximately four 
times as large as those of Scheideckeri. The fruit is 
large, yellow with red cheeks, excellent for jelly, and 
can be eaten raw. The fruit is ripe in August, occa¬ 
sionally earlier. Two varieties are known to me, but 
probably many others are in existence. We have a 
double white form and a double pink. 
Malus Spectabilis Malus Theifera. Rigid of branch, with wands of 
blossoms often fifteen feet long, the Chinese M. Thei¬ 
fera is the very quintessence of Crab Apple loveliness. It is a small tree, 
seldom exceeding twenty feet in height, with sparse upright and spreading 
rather zigzag branches, which are densely studded from base to tip with 
short flower-bearing spurs. When in blossom the whole branch is trans¬ 
formed into a floral plume into which it is impossible to thrust a finger 
without touching a flower. 1 he petals are reddish pink in bud, white or 
