1914] Torrey,— Two yellow-fruited Shrubs 91 
TWO YELLOW-FRUITED SHRUBS. 
G. S. Torrey. 
AMONG the plants sent for determination to the Gray Herbarium 
during the past autumn, are two color variations which seem sufti- 
ciently striking to merit recognition as forms of their respective species. 
On October 4, 1913, Mrs. Frank E. Lowe collected in Shrewsbury, 
Mass., specimens of the spice bush, Benzoin aestivale Nees., which 
differed from the common form in having the drupes orange-yellow, 
instead of bright red. Several bushes were found, some growing 
with the typical form in low, damp places; some alone, in drier ground 
in a rocky pasture. "These all bore yellow berries only, which were 
ripe and falling. The material was sent by Mrs. Lowe to Mrs. E. L. 
Horr of the Worcester Natural History Museum, by whom it was 
referred to the Gray Herbarium. The plant may be characterized as 
follows: 
BENZOIN AESTIVALE (L.) Nees., forma xanthocarpum, forma nova, 
fructibus flavis. 
'The type specimen is in the Gray Herbarium, and a specimen has 
also been deposited in the Herbarium of the New England Botanical 
Club. 
On November 1, 1913, Miss Louise H. Handy collected specimens 
of a yellow-fruited beach plum in Marion, Mass., which she sent to 
the Gray Herbarium. Other material of the same collection reached 
the Herbarium through Mr. E. W. Hervey of New Bedford, to whom 
it had been sent by Dr. B. J. Handy. Miss Handy writes that several 
score of the yellow-fruited bushes grow on a point which runs out into 
Buzzards Bay, the fruits of which are picked every year by the towns- 
people for jam. 
Although there is no material of this form to be found in the Gray 
Herbarium, this is not the first time that yellow fruit has been reported 
in Prunus maritima. The species has long been known to be extremely 
variable; and Prof. Macfarlane of the University of Pennsylvania, 
who has made a detailed study of the nature and range of the varia- 
tions,! is able to sort the fruits into twelve groups according to color 
1The Beach Plum, Viewed from Botanical and Economic Aspects. By J. M. 
Macfarlane. "Trans. Bot. Soc. Penn. i. 216 (1901). 
