1912] Wiegand,— Amelanchier in eastern North America 135 
largely of alkaline or acid soils; but not entirely that, since recent 
research has shown that calcium has also a peculiar power of rendering 
harmless various toxic substances in the soil. Furthermore, by pot 
cultures, Coville! has recently shown that certain plants, as for 
instance the blueberry (Vaccinium), cannot be grown successfully 
in soil containing calcium even in small quantities when thoroughly 
mixed with the soil. In the light of these experiments and field ob- 
servations it is interesting to find that several species of Amelanchier 
show a decided soil preference. A. sanguinea is confined to the lime- 
stone belt of northern and central Maine, and to the caleareous regions 
in Vermont, in central New York and in Canada. A. humilis, also, 
is a plant of the calcareous regions of Vermont, New York and Canada. 
Likewise, A. canadensis may be a calciphile, especially in its north- 
eastern range. This species is abundant in the calcareous region of 
New York State, but enters New England only in the limey western 
edge. In the isolated station at Pembroke, Maine, it was growing in 
company with several other calciphile plants, probably because of a 
local outcrop of limestone. A. oblongifolia and A. stolonifera, on the 
other hand, are distinctly non-calciphilous plants. They inhabit 
the granitic and sandy regions of coastal and central New England, 
and the coastal plain from New England southward, but extend up 
the various rivers where the coastal plain flora follows the sands and 
gravels far into the more limey interior. A. stolonifera is also found 
on the non-caleareous sandstone summits of certain mountains in 
Vermont, in the sand of Warren and Saratoga counties, New York, and 
possibly in the sands of the Great Lakes. In central New York A. 
oblongifolia, if its existence there should be corroborated, finds its 
most inland known limit; here a shrub with some characteristics of 
A. oblongifolia grows either in peat bogs or in special non-calcareous 
swamps. 'The most typical development of this shrub in Central 
New York is in a marsh in which occur the only stations in the 
Cayuga Lake Basin for the coastal Lyonia ligustrina and Prunus 
cuneata. A. laevis, on the other hand, shows no evidence of soil 
preference. It grows equally well in central New York, throughout 
New England, and throughout the various calcareous and non-cal- 
careous regions of Newfoundland. A. Bartramiana likewise does not 
show a special preference for either calcareous or non-calcareous 
districts. 
1 Experiments in Blueberry Culture — Bull. 193, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. 8. 
Dept. Agric. (1910). 
