Notes and Quotes on the History and Origins of the Amur Chokecherry (Prunus maackii)

Maackii, amurensis, ussuriensis-these and many yards away. A very happy and mstruc- certain other specific epithets, or variants of tive combination is obtained by the planting of P P. and the natme P. sero- them, appear m the scientific names of many maackm, padus same the specimens in the Living Collections of the tma in the group, thus having Russian, and Amencan Bird Arnold Arboretum. There is even a genus European, Cherries, no two of which flower together. Maackia, the type species of which is Maackia When asked as to seeds, Mr Egan said it was amurensis. All are linked a that by story very hard to get as the birds carried them all combines with the inter- plant exploration off. There is compensation m this, however, national intrigue and politics of a century for we noticed the young trees coming up and a quarter ago, intrigue and politics that spontaneously m the vicinity presumably led to the discovery, and eventually to the from seed carned by birds. cultivation, of Prunus maackm, the Amur It would appear from other cultivated chokecherry. How? Perhaps the comments trees of P maackm, that it does not bloom made in Horticulture magazine in 1912 by for at least twelve years from seed; we find the Midwestern horticulturist, E. O. Orpet, that this is so with specimens here in Lake Forest and in Lake Geneva, but after they do give us the best excuse to explore the issues begin, it is a contmual May Day feast, and surrounding the origins of Prunus maackii. we doubt not that in the future, when better wrote as follows: Orpet known, Prunus maackii will figure in the landscape to a marked degree. The writer is Prunus maackii free to confess personally that not in ten years has any tree or shrub made as great an Surprises come to all of us who have eyes to impression at first sight, hence the present see, and the other day when visiting Mr. note. William Constantme Egan at "Egandale," The first week m November last, Mr. his estate m Highland Park, Illinois, by Dunbar pointed out in Highland Park, Roch- invitation to see his "Russian May Day" ester, N. Y., Lomcera maackm in fruit, trees m full bloom, it was a revelation bearing as profuse as we see it in L. mor- indeed, and yet a puzzle to explam how it is rows, m August. There are few shrubs that so good a thmg, with all the help Mr. fruiting in November, and this had a very Egan has given it m the way of publicity, distinct decorative value. We have young should be practically unknown m cultiva- plants now raised from a few seeds gathered tion, certainly unhsted m catalogues, and at that time, but this again is a plant we do given only scant notice m Bailey’s Cyclo- not find in catalogues; m other words it pedia. can’t be bought. The trees with Mr. Egan are rapid m It appears that there was once a Maackia growth, with perfect pendulous habit for a amurensis, now reduced to Cladrastis. The specimen or lawn tree, and they are m full three plants under note are from Mand- bloom with the shad-bush, which most of schuna, and were described by Ruprecht. We us regard as the harbmger of the flowering are wondering who Maack was. Perhaps trees. The whole tree was covered with the some one from the Arboretum can tell us. spikes of bloom, these bemg as large as and In this particular year when we are all much more abundant than our Prunus sero- talking about hardmess or otherwise of all tina, and the sweet fragrance can be noticed outdoor thmgs, it is good to be able to report 14 15

so favorably on a seemingly new tree, origi- foliage and young branches, while those of nally distributed by Prof. J. L. Budd of Ames, this plant are quite glabrous and show no Iowa, and said to be the hardiest farthest north trace of the glandular dots which cover the of all Chemes with a very marked horticul- under surface of the leaves of that species. tural value as a decorative tree. While they might have failed to see the by -Excerpted from Horticulture, then decades-old Garden and Forest article, Volume 15, Number 21 (May Orpet and Egan no doubt did see a much later 25, 1912), page 755. one-which may also have been written by the Bulletin A Case of Misplaced Enthusiasm? Sargent-in of Popular Infor- mation (now called Arnoldia~, in 1917, though Messrs. Orpet and Egan, among others, chances are they already knew the unhappy would have been chagrined to read the fol- truth it revealed. In the later article, an anon- lowing information in an article by Charles ymous author confesses, m describing a spec- Sprague Sargent that was published in Garden imen of Prunus padus var. commutata in the and Forest in 1888. Discussmg a very-early- Arboretum’s collections, that flowering variety of Prunus padus (like Prunus The seed from which this was raised maackii a bird cherry from Manchuria), Sar- plant was sent from the Botamc Garden at Petro- gent reported that a specimen m the Arbo- retum’s collections grad [Leningrad] m 1878, mcorrectly as Prunus Maackm, under which name the was raised from seed sent many years ago to young plants were distributed from the the Arnold Arboretum from the St. Peters- Arboretum, and as Prunus Maackii it is still burg [Leningrad] garden as Prunus Maackii, cultivated and much esteemed m some Illi- a Manchurian Bird Cherry, with pubescent nois gardens.

Maackia amurensis var. buergen m the Arnold Arboretum. Left: habit, nght: close-up of leaves and an mflorescence. Maackia is one of the many plant taxa named after Richard K Maak. Photograph by Herbert W. Gleason From the Archives of the Arnold Arboretum.

Opposite. Drawing of the leaves and an mflorescence of Prunus maackm From Flora Sylvatica Koreana, by Takenoshm Nakai (Part 5, 1916). 16

The Arboretum’s records on the seeds sent Richard Karlovich Maak from Leningrad seem to be lost. In 1915, how- The Great Soviet Encyclopaedia states that ever, it did receive "Seed" of Prunus padus Richard Karlovich Maak was "Born Aug. 23 var. commutata from none other than E. O. 1825, in Arensburg, present-day Orpet of Lake Forest, Illinois. No doubt there (Sept. 9), Kingissepp, Estonian SSR; died Nov. 13 (25), had been an interesting exchange of letters 1886, in St. Petersburg." He was, the Ency- between him and Sargent in the three years clopaedla continues, a "Russian naturalist since his piece on "Prunus maackii" had and explorer of Siberia and the Far East." (In appeared in Horticulture. The Arnold Arbo- English translation, the Encyclopaedia ren- retum did receive three authentic plants of ders the surname "Maak," not "Maack" as Prunus maackii from Leningrad in 1878, most other sources do.)( however, one of which survived until 1946, "In 1853, Maak took part in the expedition when it had to be removed because it was in which first described the condition. orography, geology, poor and of the basin of the Viliui, the two taxa can be dis- population Fortunately, easily and Chona rivers" the work tinguished from each other. The following Olekma, great continues. "He studied the valleys of the chart should help expose any specimens of Amur (1855-56) and Ussun (1859) rivers." An Prunus padus var. commutata still masquer- account of Maak’s work in the Amur valley, ading as Prunus maackii:

Puteshestvie na Amur, sovershennoe po ras- poriazheniiu Sibirskogo otdela Russkogo geograficheskogo obshcheskogo obshchestva v 1855 godu, was published m St. Petersburg in 1859. The title is usually given in English as Journey to Amur in 1855. Here, at least in brief outline, is an answer to E. O. Orpet’s query. Emil Bretshneider, the Russian biographer, tells us more. Maak, he says, studied natural sciences at the St. Peters- burg University, took his degree of Candi- date, m 1849, and m 1852 was appomted Professor of Natural Sciences at the Gym- nasmm of Irkutsk. Subsequently he became Director of that Gymnasium, and from 1868 The leaves of Prunus maackm Photograph from the to 1879, he was Supenntendent of all schools Archives of the Arnold Arboretum. m Eastern Siberia. He died at St. Petersburg, 17

November 13, 1886. Russians began to colonize the area again in Maak described his first expedition down the Nineteenth Century. Richard Maak, the the Amur and back m a book entitled: botanist, was part of that second wave. IOURNEY ON THE AMUR, IN 1855 (in Rus- sian), published in 1859, accompamed with Enter Perry McDonough Collins an Atlas containing maps, views and draw- ings of plants. Only a few months after Richard Maak The expedition left Irkutsk in April 1855, explored the Amur River, an American, Perry and proceeded by the ordmary way to Ner- McDonough Colhns, having travelled the chmsk. Here, at the discharging of the length of Russia eastward from Moscow, Nercha into the Shilka, they found a great drifted down the Amur on a barge provided raft prepared for them, on which they by Siberian officials, the first American to embarked on the 5th of May. Albazin, May navigate the Amur from its source to its 26, stay till 31st.-On August 8, the expe- mouth. A businessman and Col- dition arrived at the post Marinsk, near the promoter, Kidzi Lake and remained there till August lins had managed to get himself appointed 14. Then back up the Amur River, reached the official "American Commercial Agent to Aigun October 11, spent a month there. On the Amoor River." Attracted by the poten- November 12, started on horse back, for the tialities he saw for American trade in the Amur was frozen, following the river valley. Amur region, he went there to see for him- Ust December Irkutsk Strelka, 30, January self, and on behalf of the United States gov- 16, 1856. ernment. Like other Americans of the time, As on this river journey frequent stops Collins was afflicted with "Russian fever." were made, sometimes for several days, Eventually, the era of good feeling between Maak had a favourable opportumty for the United States and Russia would be making botamcal and zoological collec- the sale of "Russian America" tions. The plants gathered by him m the capped by to the United States in 1867. Amur valley, in 1855, were determmed and (Alaska) In an described by Maximowicz m his Pnmitiae account of his travels, prepared for Florae Amurensis. the United States Congress (A Voyage Down the Amoor, origmally published in 1857, and The Amur River reprinted by the University of Wisconsin Press in 1962 under the title, Siberian Journey: The Amur River (Hei-lung Chiang in Chinese) Down the Amur to the Pacific, 1856-1857), is a river of eastern Asia that forms the Collins captured a moment of change in ’present border between the Soviet Union and czarist Russia’s eastward expansion and China or (Manchuria, Heilongjiang). Flowing development of Siberia. Fresh from the devel- generally southeastward, the Amur is nearly opmg frontier of his own country, Collins 1,800 miles in length. (Counting thee saw Russian activities in the Amur region Shilka-Onon system, the Amur would be through approving eyes. "Siberia is compara- 2,700 miles in length.) It did not always form tively a free country," he wrote. the frontier between the two countries, how- There are no landed no serfdom. ever. Before 1858, when China ceded all lands proprietors, The land to the and is north of the Amur and east of the Ussuri belongs Crown, given to the settlements or m the rivers to Russia the of the villages country by Treaty Aigun, or to individuals in cities. Public sentiment Chinese claimed both of its banks. Russians and speech are quite free also; in fact, the had first reached the Amur area in the Sev- rems of government seem to set lightly on enteenth but the Ner- Century, by Treaty of her people. The people are hardy and robust, chinsk (1689) had yielded it to the Chinese. accustomed, like our own frontiersmen, to 18

a rough and active life, have the rifle and Maackia was among the new taxa, as was the use it well, as the mountains of furs and species Prunus maackii. It was the year after skins seen in the cities and market-towns Maak’s first expedition to "Amur-land" that fully attest. China, in the city of Aigun, relinquished all Collins described the mighty Amur in claim to territory north of the Amur and east terms any American could have understood: of the Ussuri. Two years later (1860), Russia established the town of Vladivostok at the The river is truly a grand one, and since we southeasternmost of its passed the Zea, more and more resembling extremity newly the Mississippi, and since we passed the Son- secured territory. gahree, and now the Ousuree [Ussuri], in many places with its cut and crumbling Professor Sargent & Son in Amur-land and the muddiness shores, falhng-in timber, Professor Charles of its waters, and its huge sandbars, the Forty-three years later, resemblance has become almost perfect. Sprague Sargent, the first director of the From the Songahree the Amoor is certainly Arnold Arboretum-accompanied by his son, a more considerable river in breadth than the A. Robeson Sargent, and the naturalist-writer, Mississippi below the mouth of the Ohio. John Muir of California-travelled to the The expanse of water, the numerous islands, Amur region in search of plants. They left and the many navigable chutes, some of them the United States on May 29, 1903, on a six- thirty miles in extent, must give it more month around-the-world tour, arriving in breadth than the As for Mississippi. distance, Russia on August 1st and the Amur region a above the Ousuree the river is divided into dozen days later. The journey went well for two parts, one-the right-usually navigated, the most until the travellers arrived in into which falls the Ousuree, deep, and about part Manchuria and Siberia. had to the size of the Ohio; the other, broad and There, they filled with islands, bars, and chutes, certainly spend days at a time on hot, crowded trains, unable even to their clothes. The as large as the Mississippi above Memphis, change food and looking very like it. was abominable; at Harbin, Manchuria, Muir developed a severe case of food poisoning. Charles who edited the 1962 Vevier, These hardships, plus a profound difference of Collins’s summarized the reprinting book, of temperament between Muir and the elder political situation of the Amur region during Sargent that intensified during the trip, the 1850s in the clear terms: "Eco- following prompted Muir to strike out alone once the nomic in this unknown opportunity region party had escaped Siberia and Manchuria. A ... was in a Russian fist which grasped now, newspaper interview with Robeson Sargent after some two hundred of years negotiation, and private accounts of the trip by Muir had unclenched, spreading its fingers over follow. the Amur region, the Ussuri River area east to the Pacific coast, Northern China, Sak- Prof. Sargent Garners Rare Specimens of halin, and Japan." There was at least one Eastern Flora benign result of Russia’s thrust into eastern Asia, a flood of plant material new to botany His Recent Expedition to Russia, and and horticulture. Richard Maak alone dis- Through Siberia, Will Be of Vast Benefit to Plant Collection at Arnold Arboretum covered forty-two new taxa in the Amur and Ussuri river valleys on the two expeditions Prof. Sargent, of the Arnold Arboretum, he made to the region during the 1850s, the has just retumed from a 6 mos.’ tour of first in 1855, the second in 1859. The genus Russia and Siberia. 19

The journey was undertaken by Prof. The party left New York May 29, and Sargent for the purpose of securing an entered the land of the czar Aug. 1. exhaustive collection of tree and plant spec- Several weeks were devoted to the Cnmea, imens, and m this arduous task he was where the younger Sargent was charmed assisted by his son, A. R[obeson]. Sargent, with the landscape effects of the gardens the landscape architect. attached to the imperial palace, pron- More than 8000 bulbs, seeds and roots ouncing them surpassed only by the craft of were the result of the expedition, and while the Italian landscape gardener. it will require many months for develop- "The most superb thing m nature that ment to reveal the exact value of the collec- Russia had to offer," said he, tion, the professor is sure that many rare was the voluptuous floral display of Mt Kasbek, of eastern flora have been specimens gath- a spur of the Caucasus range, where 10,000 ft ered and the success of this mission is a above the sea level the luxurious profusion of question beyond cavil. wild flowers was astoundmg.

Perry McDonough Collms’s map of Amur River basin as it was when he made his tnp through the area m 1857 An Amencan, Collins floated down the 1,800-mile waterway on a barge a year or two after the Russian botamst Richard K. Maak made the same tnp on a raft, discovenng, among other plants, Prunus maackn. (Amur is spelled ‘Amoor" on Collms’s map. The Amur reminded Collins of the Mississippi, and its tnbutary the Ussun ("Ousuree" on Collms’s map), of the Ohio. China, by the Treaty of Aigun ("Igoon" here), ceded all lands north of the Amur and east of the Ussun to Russia m 1858 (An "X" has been added to mdicate the location of Haerbm, Manchuna, from which B. V. Skvortzov sent seeds of Prunus maackn to the U.S. Plant Introduction Station m 1940 Map courtesy of the Boston Athenaeum. 20

Every conceivable color was there to be found, Everybody smokes, the women usmg the cig- and yet the blendmg was m such perfect har- arette and, though I am admsed that universal mony that It consdtuted a color scheme well discontent prevails, the people present an air of worth cultrvaung m landscape gardemng, and silent sausfacuon one scarcely credW able to accident alone The edyces are mostly block houses cvWh My one ambruon is to reproduce the effect m thatched roofs America Lmmg is expensme, though rmlway fares are We entered Siberia by way of the Chita branch ndiculously cheap of the railway and spent 28 mghts upon the tram, The better class of Russian women are the dunng 10 of which we did not remove our handsomest m the world, but the military offl- clothmg, ocvmg to the miserable sleepmg car cers do not present so fine an appearance as do accommodauons those of the German and Austnan armies In Russia every traveler takes his bed clothmg Aside from the novelty and pleasure which the cvW him, and through ignorance of this custom tnp afforded, I feel that the benefit which will we found ourselves m a sorry phght Often wheze thereby accrue to the study of trees and plants beddmg could not be hired, we were compelled is of mcalculable value to dnve the streets all mght -Boston Evening Record, I was impressed with the vast forests and December 29, 1903. broad steppes of Srbena. and as we sped over the Armor R R., the ongmal one of the country, we Muir’s accounts consist of a letter to passed many trams filled with Russian convicts John They were crowded into small box cars, hghted his wife, Louisa ("Louie"), which he wrote in with tmy barred and grated windows Vladivostok, and hastily scribbled entries in At Harbm, rn Manchuna, we found the Rus- his These a vivid and sran government was secretly mobihzmg her diary. give decidedly troops, and everybody professed behef m the per- more candid picture of the unhappy condi- manent occupancy of that country by the czar’s tions under which the party travelled than mmions Harbm is a new town and tenanted by did the account. Both the letter soldiers and Russian offic~als exclusively The newspaper most mteresung town m Manchuna is Kabavosk and diary excerpts are presented below with [r.e., Khabarovsk], a place of 5000 mhab~tants only minor editing. and delrghtfully situated at the ~unctuze of the Armor and Usan nvers Letter We expected to return from here to Harbm, where the Eastern Chma R R commences, but while en route thrther a bndge went down with Vladivostok Aug. 19, 1903 40 passengers and we were compelled to retrace our steps Dear Louie After many short stops here & Farmmg is quite pnmW ve m Srbena and agn- there we are at last on the Pacific having cultural implements are most crude Wooden crossed the whole vast breadth of Asia, & plows are used and drawn by 12 yokes of oxen now you don’t seem so dreadfully far. We I was pleased to see, however, that Amencan arrived tired implements of agnculture are begmnmg to be yesterday morning very having mtroduced mto the country slept in our clothes the last 8 mghts & the The soil ~s fertile and with proper culuvat~on heat has been trying 80 to 90° in the cars. would the world with wheat supply & miserable uneatable food at the stations Uehicles with 2 wheels are employed exclu- most of Here it is cool- sively and the ox is ubiquitous as a draught the[m]. delightfully beast but the food is very poor. I’m resting today We had ample opportumty to study the people, while the Sargents are out botanizing. I sup- the Russian trader reaches the for usually depot pose we will be here a few days longer. Then several days m advance of the departure of his Sargent wants to [see] the Amour for a day tram and there he sleeps and eats m the depot, or thence back to thence to carrymg his food and beddmg cmth him They two, Harbin, are all disgustedly dirty and wear shoes made of Muken & thence to Pekmg which will pelts and tcmsted tcnnne The beverage is mvan- require 8 to 10 days more of rail riding of ably tea, which is drunk with block bread The most wearisome sort, but with views of nauonal mtoxicant is which is sold by voyaka, wonderful their rocks flora the bottle, the law prohrbrUng its sale by the regions scenery glass, and the purchaser gets glonously drunk people etc by way of compensation. I had thereon. It seems to be made of pure alcohol made up my mind to leave the Sargents here 21

& go to Japan Shanghai, etc as I long for the streets for holes basins pits ridges & peaks cool sea. But Sargent advises very strongly made chiefly of mud. Harbin on its large flat agamst my going off alone & raises all sorts rain again and dark. Left Harbm at 2.30 for of objections, difficulty of arrangmg money Mukden. Ram at 2.45 in rich rolling treeless matters etc. promises not to stay but a day prame like country planted mostly to millet. or two in Pekm or hot, dusty Mukden (suggestive name) So I suppose III go on with 4:30 Bar 700. Same prairie sunflrs millet, him as far as Pekin or Shanghai-where I melons etc. Still dark, ramy, extremly rich hope to hear from you once more. The whole soils gl[acial] mud silt reformed in slow trip has been exceedmgly interesting far water-few clumps of trees on horizon mud more so than anythmg I had read lead me to adobe houses thatch roofs mud corall walls, expect. And now dear wife & babes Heaven some corn. bless you. How glad Ill be to get home. Love 6 P M universal ram Bar 850 Dripping to all. John Muir Chmamen herdmg cattle & horses here and there some with umbrellas. Nearly all cul- Muir’s is even more than diary revealing tivated or m pasture The country is flatter his letter. than 2 hrs ago. All looks like Illinois

Diary 29 aug. Bar 650, cldy. The same prairie & crops. All Chmese horses poor & sore.

12 ... Mr & Son have decided Aug Sargent Groves & smgle trees here & there Willow to the down the Amour on give up voyage poplar tillia [Tiha] or elm mostly not a stone acct of missing todays boat, tho another to be seen Houses mud framework wood. sails m 4 or 5 Would on alone but days. go The whole country beautiful m features of can’t separate.... low swells & ravines with hills dotted with trees m dist. seems to have been cultivated Aug 19. Sargents out while I botamzmg every mch of it time immemorial No mldflrs read & work & rest. Would hke to leave for in it only weeds by waysides & m pastures Japan etc but Sargent wishes to go with him rose colored polygonum the showiest. to on the Amour & thence to Mukden pomt Chmese here keep hogs wh they herd. The Pekm & Shanghai. 2 weeks more of miser- largest ever saw have enormous ears look able rail travel m enfeebled condition very like baby elephants. but I suppose I’ll get thro somehow & I will see more of Manchuria. We are running back to [Kungchuhng]. 3 said to be washed out Aug 20. In house all day resting. bridges ahead.-gomg back all the way to Harbm. Dont know how have to in Aug 21. The sea air reviving. Hope to leave long may wait that filthy place. this eve 9. PM for Kabarovsk.... Sargent seems pleased.

Aug 28. 6 A.M. In broad flat mostly cul- 30 Aug. Still damp and cloudy & running tivated. At Harbm 7 a.m. Bar[ometer] 600 wearily back thru millet fields to Karbm rainy Harbm is situated on river. Flat & will probably get there this P.M. arrived at muddy streets. When dry fill in ruts & smk- 10 a.m Stay here until 3 P M when we again holes the story of sea of mud. Large Govermt go back 200 ms or so mto first mtns to N of bmldings-mtended for large town. like here to botanize. A day or so while wairing many others along the R.R. but Yankee repairs on lme to Port Arthur None knows enterprise sadly wantmg or adventurous when they will be completed. builders of homes. The whole country seems a Government camp. Drive to so-called Start at 3.40 PM ram hazy muggy weather. garden restaurant 5 ms of the most hornble Bar 650 has stood so from when we turned 22

back. At 6 P.M Bar 800 Many on train going The Sargent-Muir Trip in Context this way via Vladivostok to Pt. Arthur, wish Manchuria and the we were but of course Sargent wont & he Siberia, separated by Ussuri became has me in his power Amur and rivers, increasingly the scene of international rivalries between Arive Aug. 31 at station m the mtns 1600 ft the time Maak and Collins, on the one hand, El at daybreak & in pouring rain, Crouch for and the Sargents and Muir, on the other, trav- a while back of brick wall then go to porch elled there. They also became the scene of of restaurant where I lie on bench all day in intense botanical collecting. Frank N. Meyer, terrible after 3 mos of pain. indigestion for instance, was in Siberia and Manchuria cooked food. Start back to abommably in late 1906 and early 1907. He was there horrid Harbin at 4 or 5 P M. Arrive at Sep 1, in late 1912 and 1913. On both 6 AM. After dreadful of I told S. again early night pam. occasions he Harbin and that we wld probably be compelled to go via passed through the of those Vladivostok & Japan after all thus passing Mukden. During first trips also travelled in northern Korea. On 5 times ovr part of road on acct of the broken Meyer bridges. He never seemed to think of me August 21, 1903, he collected a pyramidal sick or well or of my studies only of his own. wild cherry with bright-green foliage that until he feared I might die on his hands and Alfred Rehder of the Arnold Arboretum thus bother him-He was planning another much later named Prunus x meyeri in his botanical trip to some point on the Sungari, honor. (Two days after Meyer made the col- Stmr & me alone at some going by leaving lection, he recorded a killing frost.) Meyer hotel or lodging house. But fortunately reported seeing "Only two or three trees ... learned the R R not be for a might opened the whole northern Korea Mo & that a stmr wld leave Vladivostock on during trip through and two had a few seeds." the 3d or 4th. So back N we went again this only Eve Sept 1. When he described Prunus x meyeri, Rehder had suggested that it might actually Sep 2. Still alive. Morphin to stupify pain be a hybrid. "Prunus Meyeri seems in all its & brandy to hold life. characters intermediate between P. Maackii Rupr. and P. Maximowiczii Rupr.," he wrote Sep 3 arrived at old quarters in Vladivos- in the journal of the Arnold Arboretum in tock at 7 AM. after most of all painful days 1920, "and is probably a hybrid between in this 0 Learn the steamer my experience these species, both of which grow in northern sails at 3 PM. today. Robeson [Sargent] loses Korea and in the same regions, as specimens his passport, & cant buy ticket or leave collected by Mr. [E. H.] Wilson on the country. After big fuss went to Am consul Tumen-Yalu divide on two & under his direction got out papers ena- subsequent days show." bling him to leave-got off at 6 P.M. & now hope to get well. In 1928, the Russian botanist B. V. Skvortzov Ate a little supper & suffer no pain. reported two forms of Prunus maackii, Prunus maackii forma rotunda and Prunus maackii Sep 4 glorious to be free from pain. Arrive forma oblonga, from northern Manchuria, in at San Won [Wonsan] beautiful harbor on the Lingnam Science Journal. In 1939, from Korean coast leave at night ... a forest near Hsiaoling, Manchuria (a town on the Trans-Siberian Railroad through which From Korea, the party went to Japan and the Sargents and John Muir must have passed thence to China. At Shanghai, Muir and the several times in their wanderings), Skvortzov Sargents went their separate ways. collected seeds of Prunus maackii, which he 23

sent to the U. S. Department of Agriculture Summer Monsoons and Prunus maackii and from which came the scions that pro- The Sargent-Muir party chose a very poor duced the trees now in the Arnold growing time of to travel in the Amur River Arboretum. year of Siberia and at least The and Muir travelled in Man- region Manchuria, Sargents from John Muir’s point of view. While they churia during a period of intense rivalry were there (mid-August through early Sep- between Russia and Japan through which tember), the summer monsoon was at its China was drawn to Russia (and Russia to height. On average, ten to sixty times more China) in an alliance against Japan. As part precipitation falls during the summer in the of this Russia had to build the process, begun Amur region than during the winter. In the Trans-Siberian Railroad in 1891, to forge a peak monsoon months of July, August, and link between Vladivostok and Russia proper; September, 70 to 90 percent of a month’s Russia was able to exact from China a total may fall in only five or six days-up to concession that part of the line run through 9.5 inches of it in a single day. A. A. Borisov, Manchuria in order to the Amur protect in Climates of the U. S. S. R., reports that, River frontier. The alliance between Russia "At Vladivostok 386 mm [ 15.3 inches] of pre- and China was vic- strengthened by Japan’s cipitation, 65% of the annual total, fall from tory over China in the Sino-Japanese War in June to September, but only 28 mm (5%) fall 1895. Harbin (or Haerbin) owed its origin to in winter." Summer floods, some of them the construction of the Manchurian section very destructive, are common. During the of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, the "Chinese ripening and harvesting of grain crops, the Eastern over which the Railway," Sargents excessive moisture affects the harvest and Muir travelled. Before 1896, Harbin had adversely. Muir’s "universal rain" seems an been a minor village and market fishing apt description. In the vicinity of Vladi- town; thereafter, it became the construction vostok, a coastal city, the summer monsoon center for the Chinese Eastern Railway. lasts for four to four and one-half Another railroad which the and usually (on Sargents months, inland and northward for shorter Muir also travelled) was built southward periods of time. Contributing also to Muir’s from Harbin to connect it with the Russian- misery was the high humidity, which aver- developed city of Port Arthur (Lushun) on the ages 88 percent during the summer. Winters, Liaotung Peninsula in southern Manchuria. on the other hand, are sunny and dry in the Largely Russian-built, Harbin became a base Amur region; snow cover is thin and persists for Russian military operations in Man- only in the northermost parts of the region. churia during the Russo-Japanese War of Autumns are warm and dry. which broke out soon after the Sar- 1904-05, The climate of Harbin, which is only forty and Muir were in the area. After the gents or so miles northwest of Russian Revolution of Harbin became Xiaoling (Hsiaoling),), 1917, the town where B. V. Skvortzov collected the a haven for Russian refugees; for a time, it seeds he sent to the U. S. Department of was the largest Russian city outside the Agriculture in 1940, is similar to that of Win- Soviet Union. Most likely B. V. Skvortzov nipeg, Canada, as the following table shows: was one of those refugees. 24

While Harbin and Winnipeg receive similar Orpet, E. O. Prunus Maackii. Horticulture, Volume 15, Number 755 amounts of precipitation (577.4 mm [about 21, page (May 25, 1912). [Like Egan, Orpet seems to be referring to Prunus padus var. 23 and 516.9 mm 20 inches] [about inches] commutata.] per year, respectively), the precipitation is Sergeev, L. I., and K. A. Sergeeva. Characteristics of the more evenly distributed from month to annual cycle and the frost resistance of woody month in Winnipeg than it is in Harbin. Win- plants. Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (Botanical Sciences Volume nipeg receives eight times more snow than Secrion), 119, Numbers 1-6, pages 98-100 (1958). [Prunus does Harbin in an winter inches average (50 maackii, Prunus padus, and other trees and versus 6.7 inches). shrubs.]] Prunus maackii does best in moist, well Skvortzow, B. W. [Skvortzov, B. V.I. New plants from drained soil-perhaps reflecting the soaking north Manchuna, Chma. Lmgnam Science Journal, Volume 6, Number 3, pages 205-228 (1928). summer conditions of its native range. And, [Prunus maackm, page 211.] while it seems to be less very cold-hardy, Vanstone, D. E., and W. G. Ronald. Comparison of bare- frost resistant than Prunus padus, another root versus tree spade transplantmg of boulevard early-blooming species. Also, it may not take trees. joumal of Arbonculture, Volume 7, Number to transplanting as well as some other spe- 10, pages 271-274. [Prunus maackii and three other taxa of street cies of tree, at least under certain conditions. trees.] Waters, Gregory J. The Amur chokecherry. Horticulture, Volume 61, Number 2, pages 14-16 (January Acknowledgment 1983). The text of the John Muir letter and of the quotations from John Muir’s journal are pub- lished with the permission of the Muir-Hanna Trust, Holt-Atherton Center for Western Studies, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California. Copyright © 1984 Muir-Hanna Trust.

Sources

Borisov, A. A. Chmates of the U.S S R. Edited by Cyril A. Halstead. Translated by R. A. Ledward. Chi- cago : Aldme, 1985. Bretschneider, E. History of European Botanical Dis- covenes m China. London: Sampson Low, Mar- ston, 1898. Collins, Perry McDonough. Sibenan fourney Down the Amur to the Pacific, 1856-1857 A new edW on of A Voyage down the Amoor. Edited by Charles Vemer. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1962. Egan, William C. Prunus maackn. Gardening, Volume 6, Number 137, page 259 (May 15, 1898). [Egan seems to be referring to Prunus padus var. com- mutata.] Lydolph, Paul E. Climates of the Soviet Union. In ~ World Survey of Chmatology, Volume 7. Amsterdam, Oxford, and New York. Elsevier Scientific, 1977.