Nov. io, 1913 
Pubes cent-Fruited Species of Prunus 
167 
“ Flora of Southern California, &c. Coll, by C. C. Parry and J. G. 
Lemmon, 1876.” In the upper right-hand comer of the same sheet 
is a specimen of very different appearance bearing the label, “Fre¬ 
mont’s Expedition to California, 1845-7. 3 70—1846,” and in pencil 
“New” (in the hand of Dr. Asa Gray). At the bottom of this sheet 
is the penciled label “P. Fremonti Watson, n. sp.” 
The specimen first cited and referred to as collected by Cleveland in 
Oriflamme Canyon bears the label “P. subcordata , var. eriogyna ,” but it 
has also beneath a subsequent label the penciled inscription, “P. Fre - 
monti Watson, n. sp.” 
It has been noted by Mr. W. F. Wight, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, 
in a memorandum placed upon the specimen in 1910, that the Fremont 
specimen is Prunus subcordata , a determination supported by the glabrous 
pistils and the leaf characters. 
Dr. Watson clearly had before him three specimens upon which he 
based his description of the new species and to which he attached the 
name. While he cites the Fr6mont specimen last we may readily pre¬ 
sume that it was because of its lacking a definite locality label, which 
the first and second citations possessed. Having incorrectly included 
it in the type material, however, and having given the name “ Fremonti” 
to the species, this specimen, according to the American Code of Botan¬ 
ical Nomenclature (section 4, canon 14, a), becomes the type specimen. 
Prunus fremonti Watson, then becomes a synonym of P. subcordata 
Benth., leaving the species bordering the Colorado Desert unnamed. 
The name Prunus eriogyna is accordingly proposed for this species. 
These two species seem to have been subject to much confusion by 
the earlier collectors. 
Dr. Torrey in the Botany of the Mexican Boundary Survey 1 refers 
specimens collected by the expedition ac San Felipe to 11 Prunus sub¬ 
cordata, Benth., PI. Hartw.,” yet his description tallies well with P. 
eriogyna, and the San Felipe locality renders it probable that he had 
this species before him. 
T|ie specimen collected by Fremont is undoubtedly Prunus subcor- 
data [ Benth., the type of which was collected by Hartweg somewhere 
about the upper waters of the American River in the latter part of 
April, 1846. 2 
By an interesting coincidence Col. Fr6mont in his Memoirs, p. 476, 
mentions camping March 26, 1846, at the ranch of the same Mr. Cordua 
where Hartweg made his headquarters in the Sacramento country. 
The month of April Fremont spent in the region tributary to the Sacra¬ 
mento River, now included in Butte, Tehama, and Shasta Counties, 
1 Torrey, John. Botany of the boundary. Emory, W. H. Report of the United States and Mexican 
Boundary Survey ... v. 2, Washington, 1859, p. 63. 
2 Hartweg, T. Journal of a mission to California in search of plants. Jour. Roy, hort. soc. [Eondon], 
v. 3, p. 221, 1848. 
