2S BULLETIN 179, IT. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



Leaves ovate to oblong-ovate or oblong-oval, rarely slightly 

 obovate, mostly 6.5 to 10 cm. long, 3 to 6 cm. broad, narrowed at the 

 base, acuminate at the apex, the margins sharply serrate, appressed 

 pubescent above or sometimes glabrous, densely pale soft-pubescent 

 below or rarely thinly pubescent, the pubescence usually becoming 

 fuscous with age; petioles rather stout, usually 9 to 16 mm. long, 

 pubescent or glabrate, eglandular or with one or two glands near the 

 apex and the glands often short stalked. Flowers 15 to 20 mm. 

 broad7in umbels of 3 to 4, the pedicels 9 to 12 mm. long and glabrous 

 or pubescent; calyx usually appressed pubescent or sometimes 

 nearly or quite glabrous, the tube campanulate, about 3 mm. long, 

 the obtuse lobes as long as the tube, soft-pubescent within, eglandu- 

 lar and entire or minutely and obscurely dentate toward the apex, 

 reflexed in age; petals oblong oval, 8 to 9 mm. long, narrowed to a 

 usually rather long claw. Fruit similar to that of Prunus americana; 

 stone 15 to 22 mm. long, 11 to 13 mm. broad, oval and grooved as in 

 the species. 



Prunus americana Janata is occasionally found in Ilhnois, but more 

 commonly in southern Iowa and southward to southern Missouri. 



The name Prunus americana lanata Sudworth was based on P. 

 americana mollis Torrey and Gray, not P. mollis Torrey, which is 

 identical with P. nigra Alton. 



The subspecies or variety mollis as estabhshed by Torrey and Gray 

 was evidently intended to include the forms with large pubescent 

 leaves and probably included in addition to the present subspecies 

 Prunus nigra and P. mexicana. Later authors restricted the name to 

 P. mexicana and the pubescent form of P, americana, while Bush and 

 Mackenzie in their use of the name lanata definitely apphed it, in the 

 "Flora of Jackson County, Mo.," to the hairy form of P. americana. 

 In the same year these authors (49, p. 83) in another pubhcation 

 give the following as the range of P. lanata: "Common along rivers 

 and bottoms from Ilhnois and Iowa to IMissouri, Texas, and Mexico." 

 The inclusion of Texas and Mexico refers to P. mexicana. Torrey and 

 Gray did not give the distribution of the variety separately from the 

 species which was: "Banks of streams and in hedges, Canada! (from 

 the Saskatchawan !) and New England States! to Georgia and 

 Louisiana! and Texas!" There can be no question of the apphca- 

 tion of the name lanata to this form as a proposed species, and it is 

 therefore retained as the name of the subspecies. There is apparently 

 no character which is constant and definite enough to distinguish 

 this form as a species. The quantity of pubescence is extremely 

 variable and though the calyx lobes are usually entire and eglandular 

 that is sometimes the case with the species. It is mainly only the 

 more marked pubescence, variable though it may be, that can be 

 rehed on as the distinguishing character. 



