56 BULLETIN 179^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



the vicinity of Scarboro, Me., to Fortress Monroe, Va. It occasionally 

 occurs a few miles inland in Connecticut, and in New Jersey it ranges 

 inland to within about 12 miles of Camden and to Bordentown; it 

 has also been collected at Sellersville, Pa. 



Prunus maritima is recorded by Chapman (13, p. 131) from Ala- 

 bama, and the basis of this record is an imperfect specimen collected 

 by Buckley. Sargent thinks (66, p. 28) it possible that this speci- 

 men represents a form of P. aUeghaniensis. It is much more prob- 

 able, however, that it is P. umbellata injucunda. The species has 

 also been reported from the shores of Lake Michigan (32, p. 33; 5, 

 p. 214) in the vicinity of Chicago and near the head of the lake. 

 Most of the specimens cited by Higley and Raddin are in the herba- 

 rium of the Northwestern University, and all of these were found to 

 be P. pumila. A considerable part of the region about the head of 

 the lake was explored the past summer, but without finding any trace 

 of P. maritima. A letter from E. J. Hill, who went to Chicago in 

 1874 and has probably studied the flora of the region as carefully as 

 any one, states that he has never found the species there, although 

 familiar with its reported occurrence. 



Prunus spliaerocarpa was described from the New England sea- 

 coast; P. declinata was very briefly described and no locahty given, 

 but the description apparently refers to the beach plum; P. acumi- 

 nata, "Hab. in Virginia," is apparently also this species, although it 

 can scarcely be positively identified from the description alone; 

 P. pygmaea was described from garden material grown from North 

 American seed and distributed as Prunus maritima by the "Herrn 

 von Wangenheim"; P. puhescens was apparently based in part on 

 P. spliaerocarpa Michx. "on the seacoast of New England" (not on 

 P. spliaerocarpa Swartz), and on material collected "in the western 

 parts of Pennsylvania, on the borders of lakes," the latter locality 

 unquestionably representing a different species. P. littoralis and 

 P. sphaerica are also apparently based on P. spliaerocarpa Michx. ; 

 P. pubigera is based on "P. puhescens Poir. (non. Pursh.)." Poiret 

 does not describe a new species, but quotes the description of Pursh. 



Prunus maritima is an attractive ornamental, on account of the 

 profusion of its bloom, and it is occasionally planted in the East. 

 It has given rise to a few named varieties, Bassett (5, p. 214), Alpha, 

 and Beta, and the fruit is frequently gathered from wild trees. When 

 grafted and grown under favorable conditions, it sometimes becomes 

 a small tree. This species attracted the attention of horticulturists 

 comparatively early and was apparently often considered quite as 

 valuable as Prunus americana. No doubt fruit was often found as 

 large and as palatable as that of P. americana in the eastern part of 

 its range, but when horticultural development in the West brought 

 to the attention of pomologists the better forms of the latter and of 

 other species, P. maritima gradually ceased to be mentioned. 



