IX 



The Nigra Group 



THE Nigra group is not of great 

 importance. Though it is suf- 

 ficiently distinct to be called a 

 separate species by several emi- 

 nent American botanists, and 

 though it has yielded three or 

 four first-rate horticultural va- 

 rieties, it has not the striking 

 characters nor the economic 

 value to fix it very prominently in our attention. 



The wild plum of Canada and New England was 

 first noticed botanically by Alton, who described it as 

 a species with the name Prunus nigra in 1789. It was 

 lost sight of in this country for several years through 

 being consolidated with Prunus americana. More re- 

 cently this group has been thought to be distinguish- 

 able from P. americana, and Alton's name has 

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