REPORT OF THE STATE BOTANIST 
93 
Prunus nigra Ait. 
Meadowdale, Helderberg mountains, and various places in Essex 
county. May. 
This wild plum has commonly been considered a mere form or 
variety of our common wild red plum, Primus Americana. But it 
seems to me that greater accuracy will be attained and the purposes 
of science will be better subserved if it is kept separate. Both species 
occur in the vicinity of Albany and present noticeable differences. 
In P. nigra the flowers are rather larger and sometimes, at least, if 
not always, the petals assume a pink or rosy hue with advancing age. 
The fruit is larger and its stone is larger and more compressed. 
Amelanchier oligocarpa Rcem . 
Adirondack mountains. Why this plant was ever reduced to the 
rank of a mere variety of A. Canadensis is more than I can clearly 
understand. It differs from that species in its leaves, flowers and 
fruit, and so far as my observation goes, in the size it attains, and the 
habitat it manifestly prefers. Its leaves are thinner and smooth even 
when young, they are pointed at the base, tapering into a petiole but 
two to three lines long, its flowers are smaller and fewer in a cluster, 
its fruit is oval rather than globose and the plant appears to delight 
in the cool shade of mountain forests and in elevated situations. It 
flowers in June and ripens its fruit in July and August. 
Amelanchier spicata DC. 
Sandy soil. Karner, Albany county. Thin shaly soil covering 
rocks. Near Lansingburg, Rensselaer county. Flowering in May, 
in fruit in June and July. 
This plant, as it occurs with us, is well marked and quite distinct 
in the character of its leaves. These are very unlike those of the 
preceding species in character and texture. They are thick and 
Arm, densely woolly on the lower surface when young, orbicular or 
oval and very obtuse at both ends. They are more coarsely serrate 
than in our other species, and the serratures are mostly limited to the 
upper half of the leaf. The petiole varies in length from three to six 
lines. The flowers are small and commonly numerous, giving a 
