A rather small family, widely distributed, trees or shrubs, the
bark exuding gum, the foliage, bark, and seeds bitter, containing
prussic acid; leaves alternate, toothed, with leaf-stalks; stipules
small; flowers mostly perfect, regular, single or in clusters; calyx
five-lobed, dropping off after flowering; petals five, inserted on the
calyx; stamens numerous, inserted with the petals; pistil one in our
genera; ovary superior, developing into a stone-fruit.
There are many kinds of Prunus, including Cherry as well as Plum, with
white or pink flowers and usually edible fruits. Prunus is the ancient
Latin name for plum.
[Sidenote: =Holly-leaved Cherry, Islay=
_Prùnus ilicifòlia_
=White
Summer
California=]
Mountain slopes near Santa Barbara are beautiful in June with the
creamy flowers of this very ornamental evergreen shrub, from five
to twenty-five feet high, with shiny, leathery, dark green leaves,
with prickly edges, looking much like Holly. The small flowers form
close but feathery clusters, from one to three inches long, and smell
pleasantly of honey. The sweetish fruit, not particularly good to eat,
is a dark red cherry, about half an inch in diameter. In dry places
these shrubs are small, but in favorable situations, such as the old
mission gardens, where they have been growing for perhaps a hundred
years, they develop into small trees.
[Illustration: Islay--Prunus ilicifolia.