Amur Chokecherry (Prunus Maackii)
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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.