TRbooora 
JOURNAL OF 
THE NEW ENGLAND BOTANICAL CLUB 
Vol 25. October, 1923. No. 298. 
NATURALIZED OCCURRENCE OF PRUNUS PADUS 
IN AMERICA. 
BAYARD Lona. 
The only recognition of the Bird Cherry of the Old World, Prunus 
Padus, as an element of our American flora a »pears to be in Porter's 
Flora of Pennsylvania, where it is reported from Pittsburg, in Alle- 
gheny County, and accredited with a general occurrence, “locally 
escaped in eastern N. Am. "—the general statement seemingly based 
entirely upon this specific instance. This record rests upon material 
collected June 30, 1900 by G. A. Link, and distributed from the 
Carnegie Museum. The label indicates the plant as “spontaneous 
on South Side hills, 31st Ward, Pittsburg.’”! 
Some years ago the fact was discovered that the species had been 
collected quite a number of times about Philadelphia, and in most 
cases mistaken for the native Prunus virginiana. It was to be as- 
sumed with good reason that these collections had been made from 
plants growing wild, or ones not obviously under cultivation. With 
the interest arising in this new member-in-prospect of our local 
flora, the attempt has been made to rediscover as many of these 
1 The interest of Dr. Otto E. Jennings of the Carnegie Museum has been solicited 
in the hope that he might be able to add some further information on the occurrence 
of the plant in this region. He writes that he is not familiar personally with Prunus 
Padus and that the South Side hills are not well known ground to him, but he believes 
that the species cannot be spreading to any extent in the Pittsburg region since it has 
not been met elsewhere. Besides the Link material, there is in the Carnegie Museum 
another specimen from the same locality (and probably the same tree) collected by 
John A. Shafer in 1901. A note written by Dr. Shafer is also preserved in the herba- 
rium: ‘‘A number of trees are growing in the main road of Mt. Oliver just beyond 
the City limits." Mt. Otiver is south of Pittsburg and just beyond the South Hills 
section. Thereis no clear indication, however, that these individuals are of spontane- 
ous occurrence. 
