An apparently undescribed Species of Prunus from Connecticut, 



By John K. Small, 

 (Plate 292.) 



To venture to describe a new species of Primus from the long 

 explored territory of the State of Connecticut may seem to some 

 to be questionable, but so clear a case has recently come to my 

 notice that to do otherwise would be unjust to nature. 



The plant in question is a low slender branching shrub, reach- 

 ing a maximum height of about twelve decimeters. The main 

 stem is clothed with a dark rough bark and, like the principal 

 branches, is leafless, the ascending twigs and branchlets only pro- 

 ducing leaves. The small white flowers are confined to the 

 branchlets just below the leaf-producing parts. The small globose 

 drupe is deep purple or almost black, covered with an abundant 

 light blue bloom. To the taste the fruit is bitter and astringent. 



The species occurs on a cross-shaped area, on a low gravelly 

 ridge near Long Island Sound, at Groton, Connecticut, and is re- 

 lated to Primus maritiina, which grows in the immediate neighbor- 

 hood and under precisely the same conditions, thus affording an 

 excellent opportunity for a comparison of characters : 



1. The new species is lower, more slender and delicate in 

 habit than Primus mantivia, maturing both its leaves and fruit 

 earlier in the season. 



2. The small suborbicular type of leaf, as against the larger 

 elongated type characteristic of the beach plum. This character 

 is very apparent from the time the buds begin to unfold. 



3. The smaller flowers with the suborbicular petals, which are 

 about 5 mm. in diameter and abruptly narrowed at the base, as 

 compared with the larger broadly obovate petals of Prunus man- 



.tima, which are gradually narrowed at the base. 



