227 



74. ?Prunus sp , Ledeb. Fl. Ross, ii, p. !). 

 //a/). Urup and TStorofu (Pallas). 



In his"Neue nordische Beitr&ge," iv, pp. 131, 133, Pallas mentions a tree from the 

 southern Kuriles, which has the appearance of a birch with birch-like leaves, but, with the 

 flowers of Prunus Padus (Traubenkirschen), and having hard wood. From this simple 

 description, though graphic, it is rather hard to conjecture what species of Prunus or 

 other plant is here meant. To me it seems to apply very well to /'ruu.us Ssiori, which 

 I have found in Etorofu. The latter plant has flowers very much like those of P. Padus. 

 Tts bark looks like that of a birch, and can be peeled oil' like that in large pieces. lis 

 wood, which is very hard and tough, is used in Yezo for oars, sledges and similar pur- 

 poses. But its leaves can hardly be called birch-like. 



Professor Maximowicz takes the plant referred to by Pallas to be Sorbus alnifolia, 

 C. Koch (Mel. Biol, ix, p. 659, in a foot-note, and also in his letter). As its name 

 suggests, the venation of the leaves of S. alnifolia is very much like that of Alnns. 

 Its wood is very strong and hard, but its inflorescence is different from that of P. 

 Padus. S. alnifolia has been found in Manchuria and also in the subalpine woods of 

 middle Japan, extending northward to Yezo, where I have collected it even as far north 

 as at Abashiri on the Ochotsk coast. Though no one has ever yet seen or collected 

 S. alnifolia in the Knrile islands, it is not at all improbable, judging from its range of 

 distribution, that it does occur there. 



75. Aruncus Sylvester, Kos tel. ; Max. Act. Hort. Petrop. VI, p. 109. Spiraia Ar uncus, L. ; 



Ledeb. Fl. Ross, n, p. 16. — Var. kamtschatica, Max. /. c. p. 170. 

 JIab. Kurile islands (fde Max.). 



I have adopted in this and the following species the nomenclature set forth by Pro- 

 fessor Maximowicz in his revision of the Spirceaai. According to him, this variety has 

 a limited range of distribution in extreme Eastern Siberia, Kamtschatka and the northern 

 Kuriles. The species has a very wide range of distribution in the temperate and sub- 

 arctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America. 



76. Spiraea betulifolia, Pall. Fl. Ross, r, p. 33, t. 16; Ledeb. Fl. Ross, n, p. 14; Torr. & 



Gray, Fl. N. Am. i, p. 411; Max. Act. Hort. Petrop. vi, p. 207. 

 llab. SMkotan. 



My Kurile plant belongs to var. typica, 11. odiroleuco, Max., which has been found in 

 British Columbia and Alaska, and also in Eastern Siberia, Kamtschatka, Manchuria. Sasr- 

 halin and northern Japan. In North America the species is more widely distributed, oc- 

 curring in two or more well definable forms. As var. corymbosa, it is found from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific coasts. As var. if/pica, fl. roseo, it occurs in the Pacific regions of 

 North America, in the Rocky Mts. and Sierra Nevada. The same form has been also 

 found in the southeastern part of Manchuria. 



77. Sorbaria sorbifolia, A. Br. in Aschers. Fl. Brandenb. p. 177; Max. in Act. Hort. 



Petrop. vi, p. 223. Spiraea sorb/folia, L.; Ledeb. Fl. Ross, ir, p. 1,5; F. Schm. 

 Fl. Sach. p. 126.— Var. stellipila, Max., I. c. 

 Hub. SMkotan. 



