The Wayland Group 63 



land plums are in many respects intermediate between 

 the Chicasaws and the Americanas (especially. Prunus 

 amcricana nwllis]. (2) They have originated in the 

 territory where these two supposable parents occur, 

 and especially in the region where the variety mollis is 

 occasionally found. (3) They do not have any con- 

 tinuous geographical distribution of their own. 



Let us now return to the consideration of Prunus 

 rii'iilaris. Scheele undoubtedly had one of these plums 

 of the Wayland group when he described his supposed 

 species. The duplicate types which I have examined 

 would be referred to the Wayland group by any ex- 

 pert pomologist or botanist, I think. If we were to 

 call the Wayland group a species, Scheele's name 

 should be given to it. Prunus rivularis would super- 

 sede P. hortulana by right of several years' priority, for 

 this section of the Hortulanas at least. But if we call 

 the Wayland group a company of hybrids, we need 

 not use any species name. It is better, indeed, to give 

 them some convenient pomological name, to call 

 them, for instance, the Wayland group. 



This matter of naming the group was carefully 

 considered before I first published the name here 

 used.* These varieties are sometimes called the 

 Peach-leaved plums : but the same designation is care- 

 lessly and perhaps more often applied to all the Hortu- 

 lanas. In the south they sometimes speak of the 

 Golden Beauty type. But Golden Beauty is practi- 

 cally unknown northward. The variety best known in 

 northern states is Moreman: but besides being prac- 

 tically unknown in the south, this variety is not strict- 

 ly typical of the group. No other variety of the entire 

 lot shows more clearly the distinctive characters of the 

 group, and none is more widely known than Wayland. 



Vermont Experiment Station Report, 10:103. '897. 



