122 Rhodora [JULY 
elongati.” The citation from Gronovius, it would seem, can apply 
only to one or both of the two shrubby species growing in Virginia, 
both of which have rather blunt leaves and fine teeth, namely Ame- 
lanchier oblongifolia or A. stolonifera. Although * foliis subrotundatis " 
would seem to refer to A. stolonifera, a small-leaved plant of A. ob- 
longifolia might have been at hand. The writer is indebted to Miss 
Alice Eastwood for a search among Clayton’s plants in the British 
Museum, but these numbers could not be found. The reference 
seems, therefore, of little value in determining the Linnean type. 
The words “foliis ovato-oblongis” in the original description suggest 
quite another plant from that suggested by the Gronovian reference, 
and the words “ovato-oblongis ... serratis acutiusculis, racemi 
elongati” in the Systema still further suggest one of the arborescent 
species. That the hairy one of these two tree forms (A. canadensis, 
var. tomentula Sarg.), not the smooth one, was intended is made plain 
by the words “tenera lanata.” The writer is also indebted to Miss 
Eastwood for a comparison of material representing our various East- 
American species with the only existing specimen labeled Mespilus 
canadensis in the Linnean Herbarium. Quite unprejudiced by pre- 
vious knowledge of the case, she reports that the Linnean specimen 
is more like material numbered III by the writer which was taken from 
a specimen of the hairy arborescent form; thus the Linnean descrip- 
tions and the specimen suggest the same plant. The writer feels, 
therefore, that the type of Linnaeus’ M. canadensis is reasonably well 
determined to be what has recently passed as Amelanchier canadensis, 
var. tomentula. This Linnean conception of A. canadensis was indeed 
quite generally followed by nearly all of the earlier writers, except 
Bigelow, in the various genera under which it was placed. Linnaeus, 
the younger, in 1781 (Suppl. p. 255), substituted the name Pyrus 
Botryapium, adding to the description the words * Arbor. . . Folia... 
juniora tomentosa. . . Petala lineari-lanceolata...," thus making still 
more definite the conception of the arborescent hairy form. Only 
the description of the fruit as blue-black, juicy, sweet and pleasant 
is at variance with this interpretation. This (that Linnaeus meant 
the tree with pubescent leaves) was also the interpretation of Torrey & 
Gray in the Flora of North America (but not always that of Torrey, 
as shown by specimens in the Torrey Herb. which are mostly A. 
laevis). In the early editions of Gray’s Manual, however, there seems 
to have been a tendency, while retaining the name A. canadensis for 
