212 



HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. 



The best known varieties of this group, which may serve to recall its char- 

 acters to mind, are Alabama, America, Excelsior, Golden, Gonzales, Govalle, 

 Juicy, Lannix, Louisiana, Minnie, Monolith, Nona, Preserver, Scribner, 

 Watson, Waugh and Yates. 



These varieties are as much alike as those in the hortulana group, for 

 instance. A new variety of this parentage can be recognized quite as easily 

 and as certainly as a pure Chickasaw, a pure Americana or a pure Domestica. 

 For this reason it seemed to me just and proper to describe the group sepa- 

 rately and to give it a name. 



This description appeared in the fourteenth annual report of the Ver- 

 mont experiment station, p. 276. Horticulturally the group was called by 

 the name of the variety Gonzales. Botanically it was named Prunus hortu- 

 lana robusta. 



The next most important group of hybrid plums seems to be that which 

 counts for its parentage Prunus hortulana on the one side and P. simonii on 

 the other. In this series Wickson is much the best known variety. Bartlett, 

 Chalco, Climax, Maynard, President and a few others are supposed to have 

 the same parentage, and so far as I have been able to study them in the 

 orchard they show the same general characters. In the forthcoming report 

 of the Vermont experiment station, therefore, I expect to present a name and 

 description for this group. The present article may be considered a prelimi- 

 nary notice of the final publication here referred to. 



The group just mentioned will be called horticulturally the Wickson 

 group. The botanical name and description will also be added, the name 

 proposed being Prunus triflora recta. 



The next most important group from the horticultural standpoint appears 

 to me to be the one originating from the combination of Prunus triflora and 

 P. americana. Unfortunately there is very little material which can be really 

 presented to the public. Not a single variety, so far as I know, which illus- 

 trates the typical characters of this group is now held for sale by any nursery- 

 man. The variety Ames sent out a few years ago by the Iowa Agricultural 

 College is said to have this parentage. While the record of its pedigree is 

 doubtless correct, the variety does not present the characters of Prunus tri- 

 flora very obviously, but seems to be almost purely P. americana. The variety 

 Omaha, described by the writer in Vermont experiment station report 14, p. 

 272, is, however, typical, and a study of this variety, along with several others 

 which I have seen, leads me also to give a group name and description to the 

 varieties of this pedigree. The horticultural name proposed is the Omaha 

 group, and the botanical name suggested is Prunus triflora rustica. This 

 group is a very interesting one, and, in the opinion of the writer, has an 

 important future before it on the pomological side. 



These matters are brought up here largely because they illustrate the 

 writer's views regarding the treatment of horticultural groups. Wherever 

 such plants have important characters in common, which may be perpetuated 

 indefinitely, it is desirable that they should be classed together. And where 

 these characters take rank along with those which are commonly used to 

 make specific distinctions in the same genus it is wise to treat these hybrid 

 groups just as the natural groups in the same genus are treated. There is 



