152 Rhodora [JULY 
This is the most abundant species in central New York and probably 
the most abundant from Ontario southward and southwestward; 
but is unknown in eastern New England except at Pembroke, Maine. 
This isolated station at Pembroke is, however, not unique, since sev- 
eral other plants were found in the same locality which showed a simi- 
larly interrupted distribution. These other plants were calciphiles, 
which fact suggests that the occurrence of 4. canadensis at Pembroke 
is due to a local outcrop of lime. Michaux,' in his description of Mes- 
pilus arborea (which is probably a synonym of A. canadensis), may 
have confused this species with others when he said: "With the ex- 
ception of the maritime parts of the Carolinas and of Georgia, this 
tree is spread over the whole extent of the United States and of Can- 
ada; but it is most multiplied upon the Alleghany Mountains, and 
upon the elevated banks of the rivers which flow from them." 
This species comes into full bloom before the leaves are conspicu- 
ous in the spring, and while they are still completely covered with 
white wool. The flowers are usually very abundant and the plant, 
therefore, presents a beautiful snowy-white appearance with no 
intermixture of green or purple. As the common conspicuous snowy- 
white shad-bush of the landscape, it replaces inland the A. oblongifolia 
of the coastal plain. 
According to the experience of the writer in central New York, 
A. canadensis does not produce fruit which will at all compare 
in edible qualities with that produced by other species, and he has 
never seen it of the same blue-black color as in other species. The 
pulp, too, is usually comparatively dry and tasteless. Michaux says 
(of Mespilus arborea), * . . . largest tree rarely yields more than half a 
pound... The fruit of this tree is, in my opinion, too small and too 
scanty to reward the pains of improving its taste and of increasing its 
volume by long continued cultivation.” On the contrary, Curtiss? 
says: “In the latter [Lower District] section of the State [North 
Carolina], it is hardly more than a shrub, and is common along 
branches and swamps (A. oblongifolia ... ?...auct.). In the former 
[Upper D.], it inhabits the shaded sides of Mountains, and is 15 to 25 
feet high. The fruit is here much sweeter, more juicy and palatable, 
like the Medlar, than in other parts of the State, and the trees are some- 
1 N. A. Sylva (Transl.) ii. p. 41 (1853). 
2M. A. Curtis, Trees of N. C. p 68 (1860). 
