NATIVE AMERICAN SPECIES OF PRUNUS. 23 
While not the first American species to come to the notice of Euro- 
pean explorers, Prunus nigra was nevertheless one of the earliest, 
having been observed by Jacques Cartier in the possession of Indians 
whom he met in the Bay of Chaleur on the occasion of his first voyage 
to America in 1534. Again on his second voyage Cartier found trees 
near the Isle of Orleans, and as late as 1895 the species still grew in 
the vicinity, specimens having been collected on the island by J. G. 
Jack, of the Arnold Arboretum. 
Notwithstanding the fact of its being seen by the early European 
yoyagers, the species did not receive botanical description until 1789, 
when it was described briefly by William Aiton fromcultivated speci- 
mens. It is said by Aiton to bea “native of Canada” and to have 
been introduced into English gardens by Lee & Kennedy, nurserymen 
LEGEND: f 
The subspecies are included with the species. 
PRUNUS NIGRA  — sanrasssisssoree ‘ 
77 AVIEFRICANA 
7 SIEXICANA —— ee oe oe 
7 SUECORDATA oes 
Fic. 1.—Outline map of the United States, showing the distribution of native American species of 
Prunus: Nigra, americana, mezicana, and subcordata. 
at Hammersmith, near London. Its introduction on the Continent 
may have been somewhat earlier, for it is this species that is figured 
by Poiteau and Turpin (20) as La Galissonniére, Prunus hiemalis. 
These authors state that M. de la Galissonniére was sent to Canada 
as governor by Louis XV in 1750 and that seeds were sent by him 
which were planted in the ‘‘Jardin du Roi, 4 Paris.”’ Though the 
date of introduction is not given, it must have occurred within a few 
years, for Galissonniére remained in Canada but a short time. In 
fact, it is quite possible that Lee & Kennedy obtained the species 
from France. The type specimen is at the Natural History Museum, 
London. The habitat of Cerasus borealis Michx.' is given as 
1 Bailey, L. H. (5, p. 193). ‘Of his [Michaux’s] Cerasus borealis there are two things on the sheet, but 
they are both forms of P. hortulana.’’ 
