Part 74

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.