Chapter XXXVI: Section 1: Polypetalæ. Corolla of separate petals (11)

Trees or shrubs, with bitter astringent properties, slender branchlets, marked by the usually small elevated horizontal leaf-scars with 2 or 3 fibro-vascular bundle-scars, and small scaly buds, their scales imbricated in many rows, those of the inner rows accrescent and often colored. Leaves convolute or conduplicate in the bud, alternate, simple, usually serrate, petiolate, deciduous or persistent; stipules free from the petiole, usually lanceolate and glandular, often minute, early deciduous. Flowers in axillary umbels or corymbs, or in terminal or axillary racemes, appearing from separate buds before, with, or later than the leaves, or on leafy branches; calyx 5-lobed, the lobes imbricated in the bud; disk thin, adnate to the calyx-tube, glandular, often colored; petals 5, white, deciduous; stamens usually 15—20, inserted with the petals in 3 rows, those of the outer row 10, opposite the petals, those of the next row alternate with them and with those of the inner row, sometimes 30 in 3 rows; filaments filiform, free, incurved in the bud; anthers oval, attached on the back; ovary inserted in the bottom of the calyx-tube, 1-celled; style terminal, dilated at apex into a truncate stigma; ovules 2, suspended; raphe ventral; the micropyle superior. Fruit a 1-seeded drupe; flesh thick and pulpy or dry and coriaceous; stone bony, smooth, rugose, or pitted, compressed, indehiscent. Seed filling the cavity of the nut, suspended; seed-coat thin, membranaceous, pale brown; cotyledons thick and fleshy; radicle superior.

Prunus with about one hundred and twenty species is generally distributed over the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, and is abundant in North America, eastern Asia, western and central Asia and central Europe, ranging southward in the New World into tropical America, and to southern Asia in the Old World. Of the twenty-five or thirty species which occur in the United States, twenty-two are arborescent in habit. Several of the species bear fruits which are important articles of human food; many contain in the seeds and leaves hydrocyanic acid, to which is due their peculiar odor, and the fruit of some of the species is used to flavor cordials. The wood of Prunus is close-grained, solid, and durable, and a few of the species are important timber-trees.

_Prunus_ is the classical name of the Plum-tree.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES.

Flowers in sessile axillary umbels; fruit usually slightly 2-lobed by
a ventral groove, generally more than ½′ in diameter, red to
nearly black or yellow, often covered with a glaucous bloom.
Prunophora. Plums.
Leaves convolute in the bud, their petioles usually without glands.
Leaves broad-ovate to orbicular; fruit often 1′ or more in
diameter, red or yellow, nearly destitute of bloom.
1. P. subcordata (G).
Leaves ovate-lanceolate to oblong or obovate; fruit ½′ in diameter
or less, blue, nearly black, red or yellow, covered with a
glaucous bloom.
2. P. umbellata (C).
Leaves conduplicate in the bud.
Leaves dull dark green, usually abruptly pointed at apex.
Fruit red, rarely yellow, or blue in one form of 2 and 5; leaves
oblong to obovate; stone of the fruit compressed.
Leaves crennate-serrate, their petioles biglandular;
calyx-lobes glandular.
3. P. nigra (A).
Leaves sharply serrate with slender often apiculate teeth.
Leaves narrowed and usually cuneate at base.
Leaves glabrous or villose on the midrib below; petioles
and calyx-lobes usually without glands.
4. P. americana (A, C, F).
Leaves pubescent below; fruit covered with a thick
glaucous bloom.
Petioles eglandular or with a single gland near the
apex; pedicel of the flower glabrous; calyx-tube
puberulous; stone of the fruit rounded at base.
5. P. lanata (A, C).
Petioles glandular near the apex with 1—3 prominent
glands; pedicel of the flower furnished near the
apex, like the glabrous calyx-tube, with long
white hairs; stone of the fruit pointed at base.
6. P. tenuifolia (C).
Leaves usually broad and rounded at base, ovate to elliptic
or obovate, conspicuously reticulate-venulose;
petioles glandular.
7. P. mexicana (C).
Fruit purple, covered with a glaucous bloom; leaves lanceolate
to oblong-ovate; petioles and calyx-lobes without glands;
stone of the fruit turgid.
8. P. alleghaniensis (A).
Leaves thin and lustrous, acute or acuminate, narrowed at base;
petioles usually glandular; fruit red or yellow, the stone
turgid.
Calyx-lobes glandular.
Leaves oblong-obovate to oblong-oval or rarely
oblong-lanceolate.
9. P. hortulana (A).
Leaves elliptic to lanceolate.
10. P. Munsoniana (A, C).
Calyx-lobes without glands; leaves lanceolate to
oblong-lanceolate.
11. P. angustifolia (A, C).
Flowers in axillary umbels or corymbs; fruit bright red and lustrous,
½′ in diameter or less; leaves conduplicate in the bud. Mahaleb.
Bird Cherries.
Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acuminate or rarely acute at apex.
12. P. pennsylvanica (A, B, F).
Leaves oblong-obovate to oblanceolate, usually obtuse, occasionally
acute at apex.
13. P. emarginata (B, F, G).
Flowers in terminal racemes on leafy branches of the year; fruit
globose, red or rarely yellow; leaves conduplicate in the bud.
Padus. Wild Cherries.
Calyx-lobes deciduous from the fruit; leaves oblong-oval or obovate,
abruptly pointed, cuneate, rounded or in one form cordate at
base.
14. P. virginiana (A, B, F, G).
Calyx-lobes persistent on the fruit.
Petioles biglandular near the apex.
Leaves oblong to oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous, or
rarely pubescent on the midrib below.
15. P. serotina (A, C).
Leaves oval, broad-ovate or rarely obovate, acute, short-pointed
or rounded at apex, villose-pubescent below.
16. P. alabamensis (C).
Leaves obovate, oval or elliptic, short-pointed or rounded at
apex, covered below with rufous hairs.
17. P. australis (C).
Petioles without glands; leaves elliptic to ovate or slightly
obovate, acute, rounded or abruptly short-pointed at apex,
in one form rusty pubescent on the midrib below.
18. P. virens (E, F, H).
Flowers in racemes from the axils of persistent leaves of the previous
year; fruit globose or slightly three-lobed; leaves conduplicate
in the bud. Laurocerasus. Cherry Laurels.
Calyx-lobes rounded, undulate on the margins; leaves
oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, entire or rarely remotely
spinulose-serrate; fruit black, the stone broad-ovoid, acute,
cylindric.
19. P. caroliniana (C).
Calyx-lobes acute, minute.
Leaves elliptic to oblong-ovate, entire; fruit orange-brown, the
stone subglobose.
20. P. myrtifolia (D).
Leaves ovate to ovate-lanceolate, acute, rounded or emarginate at
apex, conspicuously spinulose-dentate; fruit red, becoming
purple or nearly black, the stone ovoid, short-pointed.
21. P. ilicifolia (G).
Leaves ovate to lanceolate, acuminate or abruptly short-pointed at
apex, usually entire; fruit dark purple or nearly black, the
stone ovoid to obovoid, short-pointed.
22. P. Lyonii (G).

1. Prunus subcordata Benth. Wild Plum.

Leaves broad-ovate or orbicular, usually cordate, sometimes truncate or rarely cuneate at base, and sharply often doubly serrate, when they unfold puberulous on the upper surface and pubescent on the lower surface, and at maturity glabrous, or puberulous below, slightly coriaceous, dark green above and pale below, 1′—3′ long and ½′—2′ wide, with a broad midrib and conspicuous veins; northward turning brilliant scarlet and orange or red and yellow in the autumn before falling; petioles slender, usually eglandular, ½′—¾′ in length; stipules lanceolate, acute, glandular-serrate. Flowers appearing before the leaves in March and April, ⅔′ in diameter, on slender glabrous or pubescent pedicels ¼′—½′ long, in 2—4-flowered umbels; calyx-tube campanulate, glabrous or puberulous, the lobes oblong-obovate, rounded at apex, pubescent on the outer surface, more or less clothed with pale hairs on the inner surface, half as long as the obovate white petals rounded above and narrowed below into a short claw. Fruit ripening in August and September, on stout pedicels ½′—⅔′ long; short-oblong, ½′—1¼′ long, with dark red or sometimes bright yellow skin, and more or less subacid flesh; stone flattened or turgid, acute at the ends, ⅓′—1′ long, narrowly wing-margined on the ventral suture, conspicuously grooved on the dorsal suture.

A tree, 20°—25° high, with a trunk sometimes a foot in diameter, dividing 6°—8° from the ground into stout almost horizontal branches, and glabrous or pubescent bright red more or less spinescent branchlets marked by occasional minute pale lenticels, becoming darker red or purple in their second year, and ultimately dark brown or ashy gray; or often a bush, with stout ascending stems 10°—12° tall, or a low much-branched shrub. Winter-buds acute, ⅛′ long, with chestnut-brown scales, scarious on the margins, those of the inner rows ¼′ long at maturity, oblong, acute, and generally bright red. Bark about ¼′ thick, gray-brown, deeply fissured, and divided into long thick plates broken on the surface into minute persistent scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, pale brown, with thin lighter colored sapwood of 5 or 6 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Dry rocky hills and open woods usually in the neighborhood of streams, sometimes forming thickets of considerable extent; central Oregon to northeastern California in the region east of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada Mountains, and common to central California; on the foothills of the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada up to altitudes of 4000° south to the Yosemite Valley, and on the coast ranges to Black Mountain, Santa Clara County; of its largest size on the borders of small streams in southern Oregon and northern California; at high altitudes, and in the arid regions of southeastern Oregon a low shrub producing sparingly small sometimes pubescent fruit (var. _oregona_ Wight); Klamath Indian Reservation, near Klamath Falls and in Sprague River Valley, Klamath County.

2. Prunus umbellata Ell. Sloe. Black Sloe.

Leaves obovate-lanceolate to oblong, acute at the ends or sometimes rounded or slightly cordate at base, finely and sharply serrate with remote incurved glandular teeth, and usually furnished with 2 large dark glands at the base, when they unfold bright bronze-green, with red margins, midrib, and petiole, glabrous above and pubescent or glabrous below with the exception of a few hairs along the prominent orange-colored midrib and primary veins, and at maturity thin, dark green above, paler below, 2′—2½′ long and 1′—1½′ wide, petioles stout, glabrous or pubescent, about ⅓′ in length; stipules lanceolate, setaceous, glandular-serrate, ¼′—⅔′ long. Flowers opening in March and April before the appearance of the leaves, ⅔′ in diameter, on slender glabrous pedicels ½′ long, in 3 or 4-flowered umbels; calyx-tube broad-obconic, glabrous or puberulous, the lobes sometimes slightly clavate at the acute red apex, scarious on the margins, and hoary-tomentose on the inner surface; petals nearly orbicular, contracted at the base into a short claw. Fruit ripening from July to September, on slender stems ½′ to nearly 1′ long, globose, without a basal depression, about ½′ in diameter, with a tough thick black or on some individuals yellow, and on others bright red skin covered with a glaucous bloom, and thick acid flesh; stone flattened with thin brittle walls, ½′ long, ¼′—5/16′ wide and half as thick, acute at the ends, slightly rugose, conspicuously ridged on the ventral suture, and slightly grooved on the dorsal suture.

A tree, sometimes 15°—20° high, with a short often crooked or inclining trunk 6′—10′ in diameter, slender unarmed branches forming a wide compact flat-topped head, and slender branchlets more or less densely coated at first with pale pubescence, soon becoming glabrous, lustrous and bright red, and in their second year dark dull brown and marked by occasional orange-colored oblong lenticels; or frequently a low shrub. Winter-buds about 1/16′ long, with acute chestnut-brown apiculate scales, those of the inner rows at maturity ¼′ long and red at the apex. Bark ¼′ thick, dark brown, separating into small appressed persistent scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, dark reddish brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood of about 30 layers of annual growth. The fruit is used in large quantities in making jellies and jams.

Distribution. Stanly County (near Albemarle, _J. S. Holmes_), North Carolina, and South Carolina southward, usually in the neighborhood of the coast, to Orange County, Florida, and westward to eastern Texas and southern Arkansas. The form with red fruit common in the interior of the Florida peninsula (Orange County). Variable in the amount of its pubescence and slightly variable in the shape of the fruit, and passing into var. _injucunda_ Sarg. (_Prunus mitis_ Beadl.). A small tree with branchlets hoary tomentose when they first appear, becoming pubescent, and puberulous in their second season, leaves more or less tomentose below, villose pedicels, calyx and ovary, and subglobose to short-oblong fruit. Central and southern Georgia (base of Stone Mountain and Little Stone Mountain, De Kalb County, and near Augusta, Richmond County), and eastern Alabama (near Auburn, Lee County). More distinct is

Prunus umbellata var. tarda Wight

_Prunus tarda_ Sarg.

Differing from the type in the more oblong stone of the later-ripening fruit, lighter-colored bark and larger size.

Leaves oblong or oval, or occasionally obovate, acute or acuminate and short-pointed at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, and finely serrate with straight or incurved teeth tipped with dark minute persistent glands, when they unfold glabrous or rarely scabrous or puberulous above and cinereo-tomentose below, and at maturity thick and firm, dark yellow-green and glabrous on the upper surface, pale and pubescent or puberulous on the lower surface, especially along the prominent light yellow midrib and thin primary veins, 1½′—3′ long and ¾′—1¼′ wide; petioles stout, tomentose or ultimately pubescent, ⅓′—½′ in length, glandular at apex with 2 large round stalked dark glands, or often eglandular; stipules acicular, often bright red, about ⅓′ long. Flowers appearing early in April with or before the leaves, about ¾′ in diameter, on slender glabrous pedicels, in 2 or 3-flowered umbels; calyx-tube narrow-obconic, glabrous toward the base, villose above, the lobes acute, entire, villose on the outer surface, hoary-tomentose on the inner surface; petals oblong-obovate, gradually contracted below into a short claw. Fruit ripening late in October or early in November, on stout rigid pedicels, short-oblong to subglobose, ⅓′—½′ long, clear bright yellow on some trees, bright red on others, and on others purple, dark blue, or black, with tough thick skin, and thick very acid flesh; stone ovoid more or less compressed, very rugose, obscurely ridged on the ventral suture and slightly grooved on the dorsal suture, acute and apiculate at apex, and rounded at base.

A tree, 20°—25° high, with a tall trunk 18′—20′ in diameter, wide-spreading branches forming an open symmetrical head, and slender branchlets marked by small scattered dark lenticels, light-green and hoary-tomentose when they first appear, becoming glabrous, light red-brown and lustrous during their first summer and darker at the end of their second year. Winter-buds narrow, acute, the color of the branchlets, 1/16′—⅛′ long. Bark ½′—⅝′ thick, light brown tinged with red, and divided by shallow interrupted fissures into flat ridges broken on the surface into small loose plate-like scales.

Distribution. Glades and open woods in the neighborhood of Marshall, Harrison County, Texas, to western Louisiana, southern Arkansas, and western Mississippi.

3. Prunus nigra Ait. Red Plum. Canada Plum.

Leaves oblong-ovate to obovate, abruptly contracted at apex into a long narrow point, cuneate, truncate or slightly cordate at base, and doubly crenate-serrate with small dark glandular teeth, when they unfold faintly tinged with red and pubescent on the under surface or glabrous with the exception of conspicuous tufts of slender white or rufous hairs in the axils of the primary veins, and at maturity thick and firm, dull dark green on the upper surface, pale on the lower surface, 3′—5′ long and 1½′—3′ wide, with a conspicuous pale midrib and slender veins; petioles stout, biglandular at apex with 2 large dark glands, ½′—1′ in length; stipules lanceolate or on vigorous shoots often 3—5-lobed, glandular-serrate, ½′ long. Flowers appearing in early spring with or before the leaves, 1¼′ in diameter, on slender glabrous dark red pedicels, ½′—⅔′ long, in 3 or 4-flowered umbels; calyx-tube broad-obconic, dark red on the outer surface, bright red on the inner surface, the lobes narrow, acute, glandular, glabrous or occasionally pubescent on the outer surface, reflexed after the flowers open; petals broad-ovate, rounded at apex, more or less erose on the margins, contracted at base into a short claw, white, turning pink in fading. Fruit ripening from the middle to the end of August, oblong-oval, 1′—1¼′ long, with a tough thick orange-red skin nearly destitute of bloom, and yellow rather austere flesh; stone oval, compressed, 1′ long, ⅔′ wide, thick-walled, acutely ridged on the ventral suture and slightly grooved on the dorsal suture.

A tree, 20°—30° high, with a trunk sometimes 8′—10′ in diameter, divided usually 5°—6° from the ground into a number of stout upright branches forming a narrow rigid head, stout slightly zigzag branchlets marked by numerous pale excrescences, bright green, glabrous or puberulous at first, and dark brown tinged with red in their second season, and stout spiny lateral spur-like secondary branchlets. Winter-buds acuminate, ⅛′—¼′ long, with chestnut-brown, triangular scales pale and scarious on the margins. Bark about ⅛′ thick, light gray-brown, with a smooth outer layer exfoliating in large thick plates of several papery layers, and in falling exposing the darker slightly fissured scaly inner bark. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, rich bright red-brown, with thin lighter colored sapwood.

Distribution. In the alluvial soil of river valleys and on limestone hills; western New Brunswick (near the mouth of the Aroostook River) to the valley of the Saint Lawrence River and westward to the southern shore of Georgian Bay, the northern shore of Lake Superior (west of Port Arthur, Ontario), the valley of the Winnipeg River, Manitoba, and southward to northern New England, central and western New York, northern Ohio (Lorraine County), southern Michigan, northeastern Illinois, southeastern and western Wisconsin (valley of the Wisconsin River), eastern Minnesota and North Dakota.

Often cultivated in Canadian gardens and occasionally in those of the northern states as a fruit-tree or for the beauty of its flowers. Varieties are propagated by pomologists.

4. Prunus americana Marsh. Wild Plum.

Leaves oval to oblong-oval or slightly obovate, acuminate at apex, narrowed and cuneate or rounded at base, and sharply often doubly serrate with slender apiculate teeth, when they unfold glabrous or slightly pubescent, and often furnished below with conspicuous axillary tufts of pale hairs, and at maturity thick and firm, more or less rugose, dark green on the upper surface, pale and glabrous on the lower surface, 3′—4′ long and 1½′—1¾′ wide, with a thin midrib glabrous or villose-pubescent on the lower side, and slender primary veins; petioles slender, eglandular or furnished near the apex with one or two glands, glabrous or puberulous, ½′—¾′ in length. Flowers appearing in early spring before or with the unfolding of the leaves, 1′ in diameter, bad-smelling, on slender glabrous pedicels ⅓′—⅔′ long, in 2—5-flowered umbels; calyx-tube narrow-obconic, bright red, glabrous or puberulous, green on the inner surface, the lobes lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, obtuse or acute, eglandular or obscurely glandular above the middle, usually dentate toward the apex, glabrous or puberulous on the outer surface, soft-pubescent on the inner surface; petals rounded and irregularly laciniate at apex, contracted below into a long narrow claw, bright red at base, ½′ long and ¼′ wide. Fruit ripening in June at the south and from the middle of August to early October at the north, subglobose or slightly elongated, usually rather less than 1′ in diameter, in ripening turning from green to orange often with a red cheek, becoming bright red when fully ripe, usually destitute of bloom and more or less conspicuously marked by pale spots, with a thick tough acerb skin and bright yellow succulent rather juicy acid flesh; stone oval slightly rugose rounded at apex, more or less narrowed at base, ¾′—1′ long and ⅖′—⅗′ wide, often as thick as broad, slightly and acutely ridged on the ventral suture and obscurely grooved on the dorsal suture.

A tree 20°—35° high, with a trunk rarely exceeding 1° in diameter and dividing usually 4° or 5° from the ground into many spreading branches often pendulous at the end and forming a broad graceful head and slender glabrous branchlets at first bright green, light orange-brown during their first winter, becoming darker and often tinged with red and marked by minute circular raised lenticels, and furnished with long slender remote sometimes spinescent lateral branchlets; usually spreading by shoots from the roots into broad thickets, or in the Gulf States growing with a single stem. Winter-buds acute, ⅛′—¼′ long, the chestnut-brown scales more or less erose on the margins, the inner scales when fully grown foliaceous, ½′ long, oblong, acute, remotely serrate, with 2 narrow acuminate lateral lobes. Bark about ½′ thick, dark brown tinged with red, the outer layer separating into long thin persistent plates, southward often lighter-colored. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, strong, dark rich brown tinged with red, with thin lighter-colored sapwood. The fruit is sometimes used in the preparation of jellies and preserves, and is eaten raw or cooked.

Distribution. In the middle and northern states in rich soil, growing along the borders of streams and swamps; in the south Atlantic states often in river swamps; west of the Mississippi on bottom-lands, dry uplands and low mountain slopes; western Connecticut (Gaylordsville, Litchfield County), Eastern Greenbush, Rensselaer County and central New York to southern Ontario, central Michigan and northern Indiana, and northwestward to North Dakota, Manitoba (near Brandon), the Bitter Root Mountains, Wyoming and western Montana (Dixon, Sanders County), and southward to western Florida, central Mississippi, Alabama, eastern Louisiana, Missouri, southern Arkansas, eastern Kansas and Oklahoma, and in the Rocky Mountain region along the eastern foothills of Colorado to northern New Mexico (near Las Vegas, San Miguel County); and northeastern Utah (near Logan, Cache County); on the southern Appalachian Mountains ascending to altitudes of 3000°, and in South Carolina and Georgia extending to the immediate neighborhood of the coast; in the Rocky Mountain region usually a low shrub forming large thickets. Passing into the var. _floridana_ Sarg., differing in its much thinner finely serrate leaves and purple fruit. A small tree without root suckers; low rich woods near St. Marks, Wakulla County, western Florida; common.

5. Prunus lanata Mack. & Bush.

_Prunus americana lanata_ Sudw.
_Prunus Palmeri_ Sarg.

Leaves ovate to oblong-obovate, elliptic or rarely slightly obovate, abruptly acuminate and long-pointed at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate or rarely rounded at base, and coarsely often doubly serrate with apiculate spreading teeth, when they unfold sparingly covered above by short caducous hairs and below by long white spreading hairs, and at maturity thin, light yellow-green and glabrous on the upper surface, pale and more or less densely covered below with close soft pubescence at the south often becoming fuscous late in the season, and villose on the midrib and primary veins, 2½′—4′ long and 1½′—2½′ wide; petioles slender, pubescent, eglandular or furnished with a gland near the apex, ½′—⅔′ in length, stipules linear, acuminate, occasionally 3-lobed, villose, sparingly glandular. Flowers about ¾′ in diameter, on slender glabrous pedicels ½′—⅔′ in length, in 2—5-flowered umbels; calyx-tube narrow-obconic, puberulous, the lobes long, acuminate, entire or rarely slightly serrate toward the apex, ciliate on the margins, puberulous and more or less tinged with red on the outer surface, pubescent on the inner surface; petals oblong-oval, narrowed and rounded at apex, gradually narrowed below into a long claw, about ¼′ wide; stamens about 25; style elongated, exceeding the stamens. Fruit on drooping glabrous pedicels, ellipsoid, deep crimson covered with a glaucous bloom, often 1′ long and ⅘′ in diameter, with thick succulent flesh; stone oblong, compressed, rounded at base, pointed and apiculate at apex, ridged on the dorsal edge with a thin narrow ridge, thin and slightly grooved on the ventral edge.

A tree 20°—30° high, with a trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, small erect branches and slender unarmed branchlets light yellow-green and puberulous or pubescent when they first appear, usually becoming glabrous before the end of their first season, light orange-brown during their first season and dark red-brown the following year; sometimes a shrub only a few feet tall; usually growing with a single well-developed trunk; occasionally spreading by suckers from the roots into small thickets. Winter-buds acute, ⅛′—⅙′ long, with light chestnut-brown puberulous scales ciliate on the margins. Bark pale gray-brown, exfoliating in large thin scales.

Distribution. Hillsides and river-bottom lands; southern Indiana (near Columbus, Bartholomew County, and Gordon Hills, Gibson County), through southern Illinois (Gallatin, Pope, Richland and Johnson Counties) to western Kentucky (Ballard and Hickman Counties); through Missouri and Arkansas to eastern Oklahoma, western Louisiana and eastern Texas to Wilson County (Southerland Springs); through eastern Louisiana (West Feliciana and Tammany Parishes), and near Selma, Dallas County, Alabama.

6. Prunus tenuifolia Sarg.

Leaves oblong to oblong-obovate or elliptic, gradually narrowed and acute or acuminate and often abruptly long-pointed at apex, cuneate or often narrowed and rounded at base, finely doubly serrate with teeth pointing to the apex of the leaf, at maturity thin, dark yellow-green and sparingly covered above with short soft white hairs, paler and soft pubescent below, especially on the slender midrib, and 7 or 8 pairs of thin primary veins connected by occasional cross veinlets, 3′—4′ long and 1¼′—2′ wide; petioles slender, pubescent, becoming puberulous or nearly glabrous, glandular near the apex with 1—3 prominent dark glands, or eglandular. Flowers ⅘′ in diameter, opening from the middle to the end of March, on slender pedicels ⅖′—⅘′ long, furnished near the apex with a few long white hairs, in 2—4-flowered sessile umbels; calyx-tube narrow-obconic, glabrous with the exception of occasional long scattered white hairs near the base, the lobes narrow, entire, or minutely dentate near the rounded apex, ciliate on the margins, pubescent on the outer surface, densely villose on the inner surface, reflexed after anthesis; petals white, ovate-oblong, narrowed and rounded at apex, crenulate above the middle, gradually narrowed below into a short claw. Fruit on stout slightly hairy or glabrous stems, oblong to oblong-obovoid, red, covered with a thick glaucous bloom, ⅗′—¾′ long and ½′—⅗′ in diameter, with a thick skin and thin flesh; stone oblong, compressed, pointed at the ends, slightly sulcate at apex, unsymmetric, ridged on the full and rounded dorsal edge with a broad thin ridge, thin nearly straight and only slightly grooved on the ventral edge, ⅖′—⅗′ long and about ½′ wide.

A tree 30° high, with a tall trunk usually about 12′ but occasionally 18′ in diameter, stout spreading branches and stout or slender glabrous branchlets light orange green when they first appear, becoming light gray or red-brown and lustrous at the end of their first season, and dark dull red-brown the following year. Bark of the trunk and large branches thick, pale gray, and broken into long plate-like scales.

Distribution. Dry Oak-woods near Jacksonville and Larissa, Cherokee County, Texas.

7. Prunus mexicana S. Wats. Big Tree Plum.

_Prunus arkansana_ Sarg.

Leaves ovate to elliptic or obovate, abruptly long-pointed and acuminate at apex, rounded or rarely cuneate and often glandular at base, and finely doubly serrate with apiculate slender straight or slightly incurved teeth, at maturity thick, dark yellow-green, glabrous and lustrous on the upper surface, paler and sparingly covered on the lower surface with long soft white hairs most abundant on the prominent midrib and primary veins and on the numerous conspicuous reticulate veinlets, 1¾′—3¼′ long and 1¼′—2′ wide; petioles stout, pubescent or puberulous, glandular at apex with large dark glands, or eglandular, ⅖′—⅗′ in length. Flowers appearing in March before the leaves, 1′ in diameter, on slender glabrous pedicels in 3 or 4-flowered sessile umbels; calyx-tube narrow-obconic, glabrous, the lobes oblong or oblong-ovate, about as long as the tube, rounded and laciniate at apex or entire, ciliate and glandular on the margins with small sessile glands, puberulous on the outer surface, hoary-tomentose on the inner surface, reflexed after anthesis; petals sometimes puberulous on the outer surface toward the base, ovate-orbicular to oblong-ovate, rounded at the narrow apex, crenulate, abruptly or gradually narrowed below into a short claw, about 3 times as long as the calyx-lobes; style longer than the stamens. Fruit ripening from the end of August to early October, subglobose to short-oblong, rounded at the ends, dark purple-red with a slight glaucous bloom, 1¼′—1⅓′ long and 1′—1¼′ in diameter, with thick succulent flesh; stone smooth obovoid to nearly circular, turgid, unsymmetric, narrowed and rounded at base, rounded or short-pointed at apex, ridged on the rounded dorsal edge with a broad thin ridge, thin, less rounded and grooved on the ventral edge, ¾′—1′ long and about ½′ wide.

A tree from 20°—25° high, with a trunk sometimes 8′—10′ in diameter, stout branches forming an open irregular head, and slender glabrous branchlets light orange-brown, very lustrous and marked by dark lenticels during their first winter and dull gray-brown the following year. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, glabrous, ¼′ long. Bark dark, nearly black or light gray, exfoliating in plate-like scales on young stems and large branches, becoming rough and deeply furrowed on old trunks.

Distribution. Open woods on rich alluvial bottom-lands, upland prairies and hillsides; southeastern Kansas (near Parsons, Labette County), through Arkansas to western Oklahoma (Navina, Logan County, Minca, Grady County), western Louisiana, northern and eastern Texas to the valley of the San Antonio River, ranging westward in Texas over the Edwards Plateau and to Brown and Palo Pinto Counties; in West Feliciana Parish, eastern Louisiana; in Coahuila and Nuevo Leon.

Passing into the following varieties:

Prunus mexicana var. reticulata Sarg. Differing in its thicker leaves more often narrowed at base, with more prominent reticulate veinlets, pubescent pedicels, globose fruit ripening late in September or in October, with thin, bitter, astringent flesh and dark deeply furrowed bark.

Distribution. Uplands and along the margins of river bottoms; neighborhood of Denison and Sherman, Grayson County, northern Texas.

Prunus mexicana var. polyandra Sarg.

Differing in the narrowed base of the leaves, the more numerous stamens, in its earlier ripening fruit, with an obovoid compressed stone pointed at apex and gradually narrowed and acute at base.

Distribution. Rich woods near Fulton, Hempstead County, Arkansas.

Prunus mexicana var. fultonensis Sarg.

Differing in its thinner leaves pubescent below over the whole surface, and in its smaller dark bluish-purple fruit, ripening in June, with thin flesh and a compressed stone pointed at apex and gradually narrowed and acute at base.

Distribution. Rich woods near Fulton, Hempstead County, Arkansas.

8. Prunus alleghaniensis Porter. Sloe.

Leaves lanceolate to oblong-ovate, often long-pointed, finely and sharply serrate with glandular teeth, and furnished at base with 2 large rather conspicuous glands, when they unfold covered with soft pubescence, and at maturity puberulous on the upper surface, and glabrous with the exception of a few hairs in the axils of the veins, or covered, especially along the broad midrib and conspicuous veins, with rufous pubescence on the lower surface, rather thick and firm in texture, dark green above and paler below, 2′—3½′ long and ⅔′—1¼′ wide; petioles slender, grooved, pubescent or puberulous, ¼′—⅓′ in length. Flowers appearing in May with the unfolding of the leaves, ½′ in diameter, on slender puberulous pedicels ½′—⅔′ long, in 2—4-flowered umbels; calyx-tube narrow-obconic, pubescent or puberulous on the outer surface, the lobes ovate-oblong, rounded at apex, scarious on the margins, and coated with pale tomentum on the inner surface; petals rounded at apex, contracted at base into a short claw, turning pink in fading. Fruit ripening the middle of August, on stout puberulous pedicels, subglobose or slightly oval to obovoid, ⅓′—⅔′ in diameter, with thick rather tough dark reddish-purple skin covered with a glaucous bloom, and yellow juicy austere flesh; stone thin-walled, turgid, two thirds as thick as broad, ¼′—½′ long, pointed at the ends, ridged on the ventral suture, and slightly grooved on the dorsal suture.

A slender tree, occasionally 18°—20° high, with a trunk sometimes 6′—8′ in diameter, dividing into numerous erect rigid branches, and branchlets at first coated with pale caducous pubescence, becoming dark red and rather lustrous in their first winter, and ultimately nearly black, and unarmed, or sometimes armed with stout spinescent lateral spur-like branchlets. Winter-buds acuminate or obtuse, 1/16′ long, their inner scales accrescent, scarious, oblong, acute, ⅔′ long, bright red at apex. Bark ¼′ thick, dark brown, fissured and broken on the surface into thin persistent scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, brown tinged with red, with thin pale sapwood of 10—12 layers of annual growth. The fruit is made into preserves, jellies and jams.

Distribution. Low moist soil, often forming shrubby thickets sometimes of considerable extent, and dry ridges; slopes of Tusseys Mountain in the northwestern part of Huntingdon County, and over the main range of the Alleghany Mountains into Clearfield and Elk Counties, Pennsylvania; rocky ridges near the Natural Bridge, Rockbridge County, Virginia, and lower slopes of Peak Mountain on South Fork of Buffalo Creek, Ashe County, North Carolina (_W. W. Ashe_), and in southern Connecticut; of its largest size on limestone bluffs south of the Little Juniata River, Pennsylvania. A shrubby variety with leaves broader in proportion to their length and less acuminate at apex (var. _Davisii_ Wight) occurs in Roscommon and Montmorency Counties, Michigan.

9. Prunus hortulana Bailey. Wild Plum.

Leaves oblong-obovate to oblong-oval or rarely to oblong-lanceolate, acuminate and contracted at apex into a long slender point, cuneate or more or less rounded at the narrow base, and finely serrate with incurved lanceolate glandular teeth, when they unfold pilose with slender white hairs, and at maturity glabrous above, pilose below in the axils of the primary veins and along the midrib with tawny hairs, thin but firm, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface paler on the lower surface, 4′—6′ long and 1′—1½′ wide, with a broad conspicuous orange-colored midrib, primary veins connected near the margins of the leaf, and prominent reticulate veinlets; petioles slender, orange-colored, 1′—1½′ in length and furnished above the middle with numerous scattered dark glands; stipules lanceolate, acuminate, glandular-serrate, early deciduous. Flowers appearing in April or early in May when the leaves are about one-third grown, ⅔′—1′ in diameter, on slender puberulous pedicels ½′ long, in 2—4-flowered umbels; calyx-tube narrow-obconic, the lobes about as long as the tube, oblong-ovate, acute or rounded at apex, glandular-serrate, glabrous or puberulous on the outer surface, pubescent or tomentose on the inner surface chiefly toward the base, reflexed after the unfolding of the narrow oval or oblong-orbicular petals rounded and occasionally emarginate at apex, contracted below into a long narrow claw, entire, erose, or occasionally serrate, and white often marked with orange toward the base. Fruit ripening in September and October, on stout stems, globose or rarely ellipsoid, ¾′—1′ in diameter, with thick deep red or sometimes yellow lustrous skin, and hard austere thin flesh; stone turgid, ⅔′—¾′ long, compressed at the ends, abruptly short-pointed or rounded at apex, rounded or truncate at base, conspicuously ridge-margined on the ventral suture and broadly and deeply grooved on the dorsal suture, thick-walled, usually conspicuously or rarely obscurely rugose and pitted.

A tree 20°—30° high, without suckers from the roots, with a slender often inclining trunk, frequently 5′—6′ or occasionally 10′—12′ in diameter, dividing usually several feet above the ground into thick spreading branches forming a broad round-topped head, and stout rigid branchlets marked by minute pale lenticels, glabrous or slightly puberulous during their first summer, rather dark red-brown, and usually unarmed or on vigorous trees armed with stout spinescent lateral chestnut-colored branchlets; or often a shrub, with many stems forming thicket-like clumps. Winter-buds minute, obtuse, with chestnut-brown scales slightly ciliate on the margins, those of the inner ranks becoming oblong-lanceolate, acute, glandular-serrate, sometimes ½′ in length. Bark thin, dark brown, separating into large thin persistent plates, and displaying the light brown inner layers.

Distribution. Low banks of streams in rich moist soil; southwestern Illinois to Scott County, Iowa, and to eastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma, and to central Kentucky and northwestern Tennessee; most abundant and of its largest size in Missouri. The handsomest of American Plum-trees, and hardy as far north as eastern Massachusetts. Several selected forms are grown and valued by pomologists. Passing into var. _Mineri_ Bailey, with darker green duller leaves, and sometimes more scaly bark. Southwestern Illinois to central Missouri; and into var. _pubens_ Sarg. differing from the type in its pubescent leaves, petioles and young branchlets. In the neighborhood of Webb City, Jasper County, Missouri.

Often cultivated by pomologists in many selected forms.

10. Prunus Munsoniana Wight & Hedrick

Leaves elliptic to lanceolate, acute or acuminate at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate or rounded at base and finely glandular-serrate, when they unfold densely villose-pubescent above and glabrous below, and at maturity thin, light green and lustrous on the upper surface, pale on the lower surface, 2½′—4′ long and ¾′—1¼′ wide, with a slender midrib often red and usually pubescent or sparingly villose on the lower side, and slender primary veins often furnished with small axillary clusters of white hairs; petioles slender, usually biglandular toward the apex, the groove on the upper side covered with white pubescence, often bright red, ¾′ in length; stipules linear, glandular-serrate. Flowers appearing in Texas before the leaves at the end of March and as late as May after the appearance of the leaves at the northern limits of its range, ½′—⅗′ in diameter, on slender glabrous pedicels ⅖′—1′ long, in 2—4-flowered umbel-like clusters; calyx-tube broad-obconic, glabrous, obscurely nerved, the lobes ovate, acute or acuminate, minutely glandular-serrate, glabrous or rarely slightly pubescent on the outer surface, pubescent on the inner surface below the middle; petals about ¼′ long, obovate to oblong-obovate, entire or sparingly erose, white, about ¼′ long, abruptly contracted into a short claw. Fruit ripening in July and August, subglobose to short-oblong, ¾′ long, bright red with a slight bloom, marked by pale dots and occasionally by yellow blotches, rarely yellow, with a thin skin and light or dark yellow juicy aromatic fibrous flesh often of good quality; stone oval, compressed, pointed at apex, truncate or obliquely truncate at base, thick-margined and grooved on the ventral suture, grooved on the dorsal suture, irregularly roughened on the surface, about ½′ long.

A tree spreading into dense thickets, the oldest central stem sometimes 20° high and 5′ or 6′ in diameter, diminishing in height and size to the margin of the thicket, with erect, rarely slightly spinescent branches, and slender glabrous red-brown lustrous branchlets marked by numerous pale lenticels. Winter-buds obtuse, chestnut brown, glabrous, rarely more than ⅛′ long. Bark thin, usually smooth and reddish or chestnut-brown on young stems, becoming gray or grayish brown and separating into thin plate-like scales on older trunks.

Distribution. Usually in rich soil; southern Illinois (Alexander, Gallatin, Pope, Johnson and Richland Counties); southwestern Kentucky; central Tennessee; northern Mississippi; central Missouri to southeastern Kansas, and through Arkansas to eastern Oklahoma, western Louisiana (Natchitoches and Lincoln Parishes), and northern Texas (west to Clay and Lampasas Counties); now occasionally naturalized from cultivated trees in eastern Texas, and eastward to Georgia, eastern Kentucky, southern Ohio, and in northern Missouri. Hardy in eastern Massachusetts and western New York.

Cultivated in orchards, a tree sometimes 20°—30° tall with a trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, and rather small wide-spreading branches forming a handsome round-topped head. Selected forms of the wild plants are valued by pomologists who have produced several hybrids by crossing _Prunus Munsoniana_ with other American and with Old World species. The “Wild Goose Plum,” one of the best known forms of _Prunus Munsoniana_, has flowered and produced fruit for many years in the Arnold Arboretum.

11. Prunus angustifolia Marsh. Chickasaw Plum.

Leaves lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, pointed at the ends, apiculate at apex, and sharply serrate with minute glandular teeth, glabrous or at first sometimes furnished with axillary tufts of long pale hairs, bright green and lustrous on the upper, paler and rather dull on the lower surface, 1′—2′ long and ⅓′—⅔′ wide; petioles slender, glabrous or puberulous, biglandular near the apex with 2 conspicuous red glands, bright red, ¼′—½′ in length; stipules linear or lobed, glandular-serrate, ½′ long. Flowers appearing before the leaves from the beginning of March at the south to the middle of April at the north, ⅓′ in diameter, on slender glabrous pedicels ¼′—½′ long, in 2—4-flowered umbels; calyx-tube campanulate, glabrous, the lobes oblong, obtuse, entire ciliate on the margins with slender hairs, pale-pubescent on the inner surface, reflexed at maturity; petals obovate, rounded at apex, contracted at base into a short broad claw, white or creamy white. Fruit ripening between the end of May and the end of July, globose or subglobose, about ½′ in diameter, bright red or yellow, rather lustrous, nearly destitute of bloom, with a thin skin, and juicy subacid flesh; stone turgid, rugose, compressed at the ends, nearly ½′ long, more or less thick-margined on the ventral suture and grooved on the dorsal suture.

A tree, 15°—25° high, with a trunk rarely exceeding 8′ in diameter, slender spreading branches, and bright red and lustrous branchlets glabrous or covered at first with short caducous hairs, becoming in their second year dull, darker and often brown, marked with occasional horizontal orange-colored lenticels, and frequently armed with long thin spinescent lateral branchlets; spreading into thickets. Winter-buds acuminate, 1/16′ long, with chestnut-brown scales. Bark about ⅛′ thick, dark reddish brown and slightly furrowed, the surface broken into long thick appressed scales. Wood heavy, although rather soft, not strong, light brownish red with lighter colored sapwood. The fruit is often sold in the markets of the middle and southern states.

Distribution. Widely naturalized especially in the south Atlantic and Gulf states from southern Delaware and Kentucky to central Florida and eastern Texas, occupying the margins of fields and other waste places near human habitations usually in rich soil; probably native in central Texas and Oklahoma. Passing into var. _varians_ Wight & Hedrick, differing from the type in its usually larger leaves occasionally up to 2½′ in length and to 1′ in width, in the longer pedicels of the flowers and in the ovoid to ellipsoid often pointed stone of the red or yellow later ripening fruit. A tree usually spreading into thickets, occasionally 12° high with a trunk 4′ or 5′ in diameter, small branches and slender often spinescent chestnut-brown branchlets. Usually in richer soil than the type, southwestern Kansas (Arkansas City, Desha County), through eastern Oklahoma and southern Arkansas to northern and central Texas (Cherokee County); now occasionally naturalized in the eastern Gulf States and possibly indigenous in Dallas County, Alabama, and Orange County, Florida.

A number of selected forms of this variety, including most of those formerly referred to _Prunus angustifolia_, are grown and valued in southern orchards but are not hardy in the north.

12. Prunus pennsylvanica L. Wild Red Cherry. Bird Cherry.

Leaves oblong-lanceolate, sometimes slightly falcate, acuminate or rarely acute, and finely and sharply serrate with incurved teeth often tipped with minute glands, when they unfold bronze-green, pilose below and slightly viscid, soon becoming green and glabrous, and at maturity bright and lustrous on the upper surface, rather paler on the lower surface, 3′—4½′ long and ¾′—1¼′ wide; turning bright clear yellow some time before falling in the autumn; petioles slender, glabrous or slightly pilose, ½′—1′ in length, and often glandular above the middle; stipules acuminate, glandular-serrate, early deciduous. Flowers appearing in early May when the leaves are about half grown, or at the extreme north and at high altitudes as late as the 1st of July, ½′ in diameter, on slender pedicels nearly 1′ long, in 4 or 5-flowered umbels or corymbs; calyx-tube broad-obconic, glabrous, marked in the mouth of the throat by a conspicuous light orange-colored band, the lobes obtuse, red at apex, and reflexed after the flowers open; petals ¼′ long, nearly orbicular, contracted at base into a short claw, creamy white. Fruit ripening from the 1st of July to the 1st of September, globose, ¼′ in diameter, with a thick light red skin, and thin sour flesh; stone oblong, thin-walled, slightly compressed, pointed at apex, rounded at base, about 3/16′ long, and ridged on the ventral suture.

A tree, with bitter aromatic bark and leaves, 30°—40° high, with a trunk often 18′—20′ in diameter, regular slender horizontal branches forming a narrow usually more or less rounded head, and slender branchlets light red and sometimes slightly puberulous when they first appear, soon glabrous, bright red, lustrous and covered with pale raised lenticels in their first winter, and developing in their second year short thick spur-like lateral branchlets and then covered with dull red bark marked by bright orange-colored lenticels, the outer coat easily separable from the brilliant green inner bark; at the extreme north often a low shrub. Winter-buds ovoid to ellipsoid, acute, about 1/12′ long, with bright red-brown acute scales, ciliate on the margins. Bark of young stems and of the branches smooth and thin, bright reddish brown, becoming on old trunks ⅓′—½′ thick, and separating horizontally into broad persistent papery dark red-brown plates marked by irregular horizontal bands of orange-colored lenticels and broken into minute persistent scales. Wood light, soft, close-grained, light brown, with thin yellow sapwood. The fruit is often used domestically and in the preparation of cough mixtures.

Distribution. Newfoundland to the shores of Hudson’s Bay, and westward in British America to the eastern slopes of the coast range of British Columbia in the valley of the Frazer River, and southward through New England, New York, northern Pennsylvania, central Michigan, northern Illinois, central Iowa, and on the Appalachian Mountains, North Carolina and Tennessee; common in all the forest regions of the extreme northern states, growing in moist rather rich soil; often occupying to the exclusion of other trees large areas cleared by fire of their original forest-covering; common and attaining its largest size on the western slopes of the Big Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. Passing into var. _saximontana_ Rehd. differing from the type in its shorter and broader, more coarsely serrate leaves, usually fewer flowered sessile umbels, larger fruit, and smaller size. The Rocky Mountain form; common from Manitoba, the Flathead Lake region, Montana, and northern Wyoming, southward through Colorado.

13. Prunus emarginata Walp. Wild Cherry.

Leaves oblong-obovate to oblanceolate, rounded and usually obtuse or sometimes acute at apex, cuneate and furnished at base with 1 or 2 and sometimes 3 or 4 large dark glands, and serrate with minute subulate glandular teeth, when they unfold puberulous or pubescent on the lower surface and slightly viscid, and at maturity glabrous or pubescent below (var. _mollis_ S. Wats.), 1′—3′ long, ⅓′—1½′ wide, dark green above and paler below; petioles usually pubescent, ⅛′—¼′ in length; stipules lanceolate, acuminate, glandular-serrate, deciduous. Flowers appearing when the leaves are about half grown, at the end of April at the level of the ocean or as late as the end of June at high altitudes, ⅓′—½′ in diameter, on slender pedicels from the axils of foliaceous glabrous glandular-serrate bracts, in 6—12-flowered glabrous or pubescent corymbs 1′—1½′ long; calyx-tube obconic, glabrous or puberulous, bright orange-colored in the throat, the lobes short, rounded, emarginate or slightly cleft at apex, sometimes slightly glandular on the margins, reflexed after the flowers open; petals obovate, rounded or emarginate at apex, contracted below into a short claw, white faintly tinged with green. Fruit ripening from June to August, on slender pedicels, in long-stalked corymbs often 2′ long, globose, ¼′—½′ in diameter, more or less translucent, with a thick skin bright red at first when fully grown, becoming darker and almost black, and thin bitter astringent flesh; stone ovoid, turgid about ⅛′ long, pointed and compressed at the ends, with thick brittle slightly pitted walls, ridged and prominently grooved on the ventral suture and rounded and slightly grooved on the dorsal suture.

A tree, occasionally 30°—40° high, with exceedingly bitter bark and leaves, a trunk 12′—14′ in diameter, slender rather upright branches forming a symmetric oblong head, and slender flexible branchlets coated at first with pale pubescence, dark red-brown during their first winter, bright red, conspicuously marked by large pale lenticels in their second season, and furnished with short lateral branchlets; frequently a shrub especially at high altitudes, with spreading stems 3°—10° tall forming dense thickets. Winter-buds acute, ⅛′ long, with chestnut-brown scales often slightly scarious on the margins, those of the inner ranks becoming acuminate, glandular-serrate above the middle, with bright red tips, scarious, and ½′ long. Bark about ¼′ thick, with a generally smooth dark brown surface marked by horizontal light gray interrupted bands and by rows of oblong orange-colored lenticels. Wood close-grained, soft and brittle, brown streaked with green, with paler sapwood of 8—10 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Usually near the banks of streams in low rich soil, or less commonly on dry hillsides; valley of the upper Jocko River, Montana, on the mountain ranges of Idaho and Washington and of southern British Columbia to Vancouver Island, and southward on the coast and interior ranges to the neighborhood of the bay of San Francisco, on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada up to altitudes of 5000°—6000° above the sea to the head of Kern River, on the Santa Lucia, San Rafael, and San Bernardino Mountains, California, on the Washoe Mountains, Nevada, and the mountains of northern Arizona; of its largest size on Vancouver Island, in western Oregon and Washington, and on the Santa Lucia Mountains; on the coast ranges of middle California and on the Sierra Nevada commonly a shrub 5°—8° high.

14. Prunus virginiana L. Choke Cherry.

Leaves oval, oblong or obovate, abruptly short-pointed at apex, cuneate, rounded or rarely slightly cordate at base, and sharply often doubly serrate with spreading subulate teeth, glabrous when they unfold or furnished below with axillary tufts of pale hairs, and at maturity dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, light green or pale on the lower surface, 2′—4′ long and 1′—2′ wide; turning bright clear yellow in the autumn before falling; petioles slender, biglandular near apex, or on vigorous shoots sometimes many-glandular, ½′—1′ in length; stipules lanceolate, about ½′ long, early deciduous. Flowers opening from April to the end of June, ⅓′—½′ in diameter, on slender glabrous pedicels from the axils of scarious caducous bracts, in erect or nodding racemes 3′—6′ in length; calyx-tube cup-shaped, globose, the lobes short, obtuse, laciniate and more or less glandular on the margins; petals orbicular, contracted into a short claw, white; filaments and pistil glabrous, the short thick style abruptly enlarged into a broad orbicular stigma. Fruit globose or occasionally slightly elongated, ¼′—⅓′ in diameter, lustrous, bright red at first when fully grown, becoming at maturity scarlet, dark vinous red or nearly black, or rarely bright canary color (var. _leucocarpa_ S. Wats.), with a thick lustrous skin, and dark juicy flesh, austere and astringent, becoming at maturity less astringent and sometimes edible; stone oblong-ovoid broadly ridged on one suture and acute on the other.

A tree occasionally 20°—25° high, with a straight trunk sometimes 6′—8′ in diameter, small erect or horizontal branches, and slender glabrous red-brown or orange-brown lustrous branchlets marked by pale lenticels, becoming dark red-brown in their second year; more often a large or small shrub, at the north frequently not more than 2°—3° tall. Winter-buds acute or obtuse, with pale chestnut brown scales rounded at apex and more or less scarious on the margins, those of the inner rank becoming lanceolate or ligulate, sharply and often glandular-serrate, and ½′—1′ in length. Bark strongly and disagreeably scented, about ⅛′ thick, slightly and irregularly fissured, separating on the surface into small persistent dark red-brown scales, and often marked by pale irregular excrescences. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, not strong, light brown, with thick lighter-colored sapwood of 15—20 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Margins of the forest, generally in rich rather moist soil, and along highways and fence-rows; Newfoundland, through Labrador to the shores of Hudson’s Bay, and southward to the valley of the Potomac River and northern Kentucky; in Buncombe and Iredell Counties, North Carolina, and Talladega County, Alabama, and westward to Saskatchewan, eastern North and South Dakota and Nebraska, northeastern Missouri and Kansas; more often a tree southward and in cultivation. Passing into the var. _melanocarpa_ Sarg. with rather thicker rarely lanceolate leaves, and usually darker often less astringent rarely yellow (f. _xanthocarpa_ Sarg.) fruit.

Distribution. Low valleys and the slopes of mountain ranges; Manitoba, western North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma, westward to northern British Columbia, and southward in the Rocky Mountain region through Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, Colorado, Utah and Nevada to southern New Mexico and Arizona, and through Washington, Oregon and California to San Diego County; in the rich soil of valleys a tree sometimes 30° tall; on dry mountain slopes a shrub 2° or 3° high. More distinct is

Prunus virginiana var. demissa Sarg.

_Cerasus demissa_ Nutt.

Differing in its often cordate leaves covered below with pale pubescence.

Distribution. Prairies and valleys of western Washington and Oregon, southward to Siskiyou, Napa, Santa Cruz and Kern Counties, California, in northern Nebraska, central Iowa, western Texas (Gamble’s Ranch, Armstrong County, with pubescent leaves cuneate at base), and in New Mexico.

Passing into var. _demissa_ f. _pachyrrachis_ Sarg. (_Padus valida_ Woot. & Stanl.) differing in the cuneate or rounded base of the leaves, villose pubescent on the midrib and veins below, in the stouter pubescent rachis and pedicels, and in the pubescent branchlets usually becoming glabrous at the end of their second season.

Distribution. Common on the mountains of southwestern New Mexico (Sierra County) and rarely in southern California.

15. Prunus serotina Ehrh. Wild Black Cherry. Rum Cherry.

_Prunus eximia_ Small.