Americana plums. In some respects the fruits are an improvement upon
those of the Americana varieties. For example the skin in the Miner-like
varieties is usually less tough; is brighter in color and the flavor, in
most cases, is a little better. These plums seem to be nearly or quite
as hardy as the Americanas and are adapted to quite as wide a range of
soils. Presumably they have the same value as stocks, though they seem
not to have been tried for this purpose and they should have equal value
at least in plant-breeding. The trees of the Miner-like plums are rather
more amenable to domestication than those of _Prunus americana_ having
as orchard plants straighter trunks, more symmetrical and less unkempt
tops and making larger trees. The fruits ripen so late as to make the
varieties of this group especially valuable in prolonging the season for
plums in regions where native varieties are grown exclusively. About
twenty varieties of this sub-species are under cultivation.
=12.= =PRUNUS NIGRA= Aiton
[Illustration: _PRUNUS NIGRA_]
=1.= Aiton _Hort. Kew._ =2=:165. 1789. =2.= Sims _Bot. Mag._
1117. 1808. =3.= Pursh _Fl. Am. Sept._ =1=:331. 1814. =4.=
Torrey _Fl. U. S._ =1=:469. 1824. =5.= Sargent _Silva N. Am._
=4=:15, Pl. 149. 1892. =6.= Small _Torrey Bot. Club Bul._
=21=:301. 1894.
_Cerasus nigra._ =7.= Loiseleur _Nouveau Duhamel_ =5=:32. 1812.
_P. americana_ (in part). =8.= Torrey and Gray _Fl. N. Am_.
=1=:407. 1840. 9. Torrey _Fl. N. Y._ =1=:194. 1843. =10.=
Emerson _Trees of Mass._ Ed. 2, =2=:511. 1846. =11.= Nuttall
_Silva_ =2=:19. 1852. =12.= Sargent _10th Cen. U. S_. =9=:65.
1883. =13.= Watson and Coulter _Gray’s Man._ Ed. =6=:151. 1889.
=14.= Gray _For. Trees N. A._ 46, Pl. 1891.
_P. americana nigra._ =15.= Waugh _Vt. Sta. Bul._ =53=:60, fig.
1896. =16.= Ibid. _Vt. Sta. An. Rpt._ =10=:102. 1897. =17.=
Bailey _Cyc. Am. Hort._ 1449. 1901.
_P. mollis._ =18.= Torrey _Fl. U. S._ =1=:470. 1824.
Tree small, seldom exceeding twenty feet in height; trunk
attaining six or eight inches in diameter, bearing the head
at three to five feet from the ground; bark thin, one-quarter
inch thick, from dark red to a light gray-brown, rough, but not
shaggy, surface covered with thick scales; branches upright,
stout, rigid, forming a compact rather narrow head, armed with
stout, spiny spurs; branchlets more or less zigzag, glabrous or
tomentose, green, later becoming reddish-brown; lenticels few
or many, pale, slightly raised.
Winter-buds of medium size, conical or long-acuminate,
reddish-brown; leaves large, broad-oval, ovate or obovate,
with a long acuminate apex and cuneate or subcordate base;
margins doubly crenate-serrate with teeth tipped with glands
which disappear as the leaves mature; thin and firm in texture;
upper surface light green, glabrous, the under surface paler,
pubescent when young and pubescent at maturity on some soils;
midribs coarse but veins rather slender; petioles two-thirds
inch long, rather stout, with two, sometimes but one, large,
dark red glands near the blade, pubescent and tinged with red;
stipules lanceolate, sometimes lobed, one-half inch in length.
Flowers expanding early, before or with the leaves, large,
sometimes one and one-half inches across; borne in three or
four-flowered lateral umbels on slender, glabrous, red pedicels
one-half inch or more in length; calyx-tube obconic, outer
surface red, inner surface pink; calyx-lobes glabrous on both
surfaces or with a few, straight, scattered hairs on the inner
surface, pinkish, acute, glandular; petals pink, turning a
darker pink in fading, rather broadly ovate, apex rounded,
base a short claw, margins erose; stamens with yellow anthers;
filaments one-half inch long; pistils glabrous, shorter than
the stamens.
Fruit ripening comparatively early; globose or oval, usually
somewhat oblong, an inch or more through the long diameter,
red, orange or yellowish in color, with little or no bloom;
skin thick, tough and astringent; flesh yellow, firm, meaty,
often acid or astringent; stone usually clinging, large, oval,
compressed, thick-walled, with a sharp ridge on the ventral and
a slight groove on the dorsal suture.
It is possible that a group of Nigras, those occurring in western
Wisconsin and Minnesota and about the upper extremity of Lake Superior
ought to be described as a sub-species since they have a somewhat
different aspect of tree and the fruits are a darker shade of red and
show more bloom; the calyx is more pubescent and the calyx-glands more
sessile. The differences in environment may change these characters, as
indicated above, but they seem very constant in the cultivated varieties
of the groups, most of which come from the west, and therefore sufficient
to segregate this form from the species.
The Nigra is the wild plum of Canada. Its most common name, “Canada
Plum,” is distinctly applicable and is here supplanted by “Nigra” only
for the sake of uniformity. This is undoubtedly the dried plum which
Jacques Cartier saw in the canoes of Indians, in his first voyage of
discovery up the St. Lawrence in 1534.[120] These primitive prunes,
Cartier says, the Indians called “honesta.” In his second voyage, the
next year, he enumerates among other fruits the plum, “prunier,” growing
on the “Ysle de Bacchus,” named from its “Vignes.” Dried plums, we learn
from many later accounts, were a staple article of the winter diet of
the savages. That the Indian tended the trees is probable, for the early
explorers often record that plantations of plums were found about the
aboriginal towns. Undoubtedly the range of this species was greatly
extended by the Indians.
The Nigra is the most northern of the American plums, being an inhabitant
of a region bounded on the north by a line passing from southern New
Foundland westward to the Strait of Mackinac and thence southward to
Lansing, Michigan. Its southern boundary can be but illy defined, but
the species is common in New England, northern New York, where it is
sometimes cultivated about houses, and westward at least as far as the
eastern shore of Lake Michigan for the species, while the western form
reaches the western boundary of Minnesota at least. Small[121] reports
it as far south in the Appalachian System as northern Georgia. In the
great region outlined above it is distributed in more or less scattered
localities, being found usually in the valleys of rivers and streams,
though often on high lands and in open woods, in the last locations
preferring a limestone formation.
There has been much discussion as to whether _Prunus nigra_ should be
given specific rank or be united with _Prunus americana_, either as a
part of that species or as a botanical variety of it. Until the revival
by Sargent in 1892 of the name given the group by Aiton in 1789, the
botanists of the latter half of the Nineteenth Century had for most
part described the two groups under _Prunus americana_. Since Sargent’s
re-establishment of the species, botanists have very generally regarded
it as worthy of the rank. Bailey and Waugh, the leading horticultural
authorities on plums, however, consider Nigra as but a botanical variety
of Americana. The taxonomic characters of _Prunus nigra_ seem to the
writers of _The Plums of New York_ to be as distinct as those of several
other of the native species of _Prunus_, and since the species now is
generally recognized by botanists, we have considered it in this work as
distinct from _Prunus americana_.
The two species may usually be distinguished by the following
differences: (1) The general aspect of the trees is very different. The
tree of Americana is larger, the top is more spreading, and its branches
longer, with more twigs, more slender and more pendulous. The bark on
the trunk is lighter-colored and much more shaggy than in Nigra. (2) The
wood of Nigra is tougher and the trees do not break as readily as those
of Americana. The wood is also lighter in color. (3) The leaves of Nigra
are larger, broader and the serrations are not so deeply incised nor
so often double. Very distinct and very constant are the glands to be
found on the teeth of the serrations on the young leaves of Nigra. These
glands disappear as the leaves grow older, leaving a calloused point
which makes the serrations of Nigra rounded, while those of Americana
are acute, this being one of the most constant differences. (4) The
flowers of Nigra appear several days earlier, are larger and are more
pink than those of Americana. (5) The calyx-lobes of Nigra are glandular
and the leaf-stalks are biglandular, characters usually not found in
Americana. The calyx in all its parts is glabrous or at least far less
pubescent than in Americana and if present the hairs are short and stiff,
whereas in Americana the pubescence is soft. (6) The fruit of Nigra
ripens earlier and is darker in color with less bloom and is more oblong
than that of Americana. The skin of the plum is thinner and is not so
objectionable either cooked or eaten out of hand. (7) The stone of Nigra
is usually larger, flatter and more strongly crested. The characters of
the two species vary much in different individuals and there are many
intermediate forms but the differences seem as constant as between other
species of this variable genus.
The Nigra plums are important horticulturally because they can be grown
in somewhat colder regions than the Americanas. They not only endure
more cold than the last named group, but their tough wood enables them
to stand better the weight of snows and the stress of winds. Their
earliness, too, prolongs the season for this type of fruit and in regions
where the season is short they may be grown with more certainty than
other groups. In habits and characters other than those named they are
so like the Americana as to need no further discussion. About forty
varieties of this species are under cultivation.
=13.= =PRUNUS ALLEGHANIENSIS= Porter
=1.= Porter _Bot. Gaz._ =2=:85. 1877. =2.= Ibid. _Gar. and For._
=3=:428, fig. 53. 1890. =3.= Sargent _Sil. N. Am._ =4=:27, Pl. 153.
1892. =4.= Bailey _Ev. Nat. Fr._ 225. 1898.
Tree low, slender, straggling, fifteen to eighteen feet in
height, or a low shrub; trunk-diameter from five to eight
inches; bark dark brown, surface fissured and scaly; branches
numerous, upright, rigid, seldom spiny; branchlets pubescent,
becoming glabrous and red, turning to dark brown; lenticels
many, small, white.
Leaves ovate-oblong or lanceolate, sometimes obovate, apex
acute or acuminate, base rounded, margin sharply serrate,
teeth fine and tipped with glands, in texture thick and firm;
upper surface dark green and glabrous; lower surface light
green, glabrous except on the veins and midrib; petioles short,
slender, pubescent; glands two, large, at the base of the blade.
Flowers white, fading to pink, one-half inch across, appearing
with the leaves; borne in two to five-flowered umbels; pedicels
slender, finely tomentose, from one-fourth to one-half inch
in length; calyx-tube narrowly obconic; calyx-lobes entire,
pubescent on the outer, tomentose on the inner surface; petals
rounded but narrowing into claws at the base; filaments and
ovary glabrous; anthers often reddish; style slender with a
funnel-shaped apex.
Fruit matures in summer or early autumn; from one-quarter to
three-quarters inch in diameter, sub-globose or ovoid, dark
blue or purple with heavy bloom; skin thick and tough; flesh
yellow, juicy, acid and somewhat astringent; stone clinging to
the flesh, turgid, acute at the ends, thin-walled, ridged on
the ventral and grooved on the dorsal suture.
In leaf, flower and tree _Prunus alleghaniensis_ resembles _Prunus
americana_. The species has long been known to be distinct, however,
having been first distinguished by J. R. Lowrie of Warriorsmark,
Pennsylvania, in 1859,[122] and was published as such in 1877, when T.
C. Porter of Lafayette College described it as _Prunus alleghaniensis_.
It differs from _Prunus americana_ chiefly in the smaller size of the
plant, smaller leaves and flowers, in color of flowers which fade to pink
in this species, and in fruit-characters. The fruit matures earlier, is
much smaller in size, is more globose, and is a dark purple or blue with
very heavy bloom. The skin is thick and tough and while the texture of
the flesh is as good as that of the wild Americanas the flavor is much
more astringent. The stone is more swollen. The plant is commonly but
a shrub, usually found along fence rows and the borders of woodlands,
but intermingled among old thickets of this kind there are often a few
small trees. It is a hardy species, very productive, and seemingly but
little attacked by either insects or fungi, being especially exempt from
black-knot.[123] In the wild state it produces great numbers of suckers
which seem to spring very readily from a bruise or an exposed root.
The range of _Prunus alleghaniensis_ is exceedingly limited. It is found
in abundance only in a small territory in central Pennsylvania, being of
most frequent occurrence in the barrens of northern Huntingdon County,
extending from there north into Center County and northwestward over the
Alleghany Mountains into Clearfield and Elk counties. It grows for the
most part in elevated lands of the wildest character, being found on low,
moist soils, on high and dry barrens and on limestone cliffs, reaching
its greatest size in the last situation.
Specimens identified as _Prunus alleghaniensis_ have been found in at
least two places in Connecticut and the writer has just seen specimens
of a closely allied form collected by W. F. Wight of the United States
Department of Agriculture a few miles south of Houghton Lake, Roscommon
County, Michigan.
This plum is not yet introduced into cultivation and it is doubtful if
the wild fruits have sufficient merit to make an attempt at domestication
promising. While the wild fruits are locally used for various culinary
purposes it is so much inferior to other native plums, being almost
uneatable unless cooked, that its cultivation would hardly warrant
the effort. Arboretum specimens of the tree show it to be somewhat
desirable as an ornamental, being a small, compact, upright plant, very
floriferous, and bearing an abundance of rather attractive fruit.
=14.= =PRUNUS SUBCORDATA= Bentham
=1.= Bentham _Pl. Hartweg._ 308. 1848. =2.= Torrey _Pac. R.
Rpt._ =4=:82. 1854. =3.= Brewer and Watson _Bot. Calif._
=1=:167. 1880 (in part). =4.= Lemmon _Pittonia_ =2=:68. 1890.
=5.= Greene _Fl. Francis_ =1=:49. 1891. =6.= Bailey _Cornell
Sta. Bul._ =38=:76. 1892. =7.= Sargent _Sil. N. Am._ =4=:31,
32, Pl. 154. 1892.
Tree small, rarely attaining a height of twenty-five feet,
sometimes a shrub ten or twelve feet high and often a bush
but three or four feet in height; trunk medium in length with
a diameter of 8 to 12 inches; bark gray-brown and deeply
fissured; branches stout and spreading; branchlets glabrous
or pubescent, bright red becoming darker red and finally a
dark-brown or gray; lenticels minute, whitish.
Leaves round-ovate, sub-cordate or truncate, or sometimes
cuneate at the base; margins either sharply or obtusely
serrate, sometimes doubly serrate; young leaves pubescent but
at maturity nearly glabrous, somewhat coriaceous, dark green
on the upper and pale green on the lower surface, with very
conspicuous midribs and veins; stipules acute-lanceolate,
caducous.
Flowers white, fading to rose, about an inch across; appearing
before the leaves; usually borne in threes, often in pairs
on short pubescent pedicels; calyx campanulate, with lobes
pubescent on the outer and hairy on the inner surface; petals
twice the length of the sepals, obovate, and contracted into
short claws; filaments and ovary glabrous; style slender and
funnel-shaped at the apex.
Fruit ripens in late summer or early autumn; roundish or
oblong, about one inch in length, borne on a short, stout stem,
dark red or purplish; flesh subacid, well-flavored, clinging
to the flattish or turgid stone which varies greatly in size,
pointed at both ends, crested on the ventral edge and grooved
on the other.
_Prunus subcordata_, the Pacific or Western plum, is an inhabitant of
the region east of the Coast Range from southern Oregon to central
California. It is so rarely found on the seacoast as to have escaped the
attention of the early botanists and remained unknown until the middle
of the Nineteenth Century, when Hartweg, working in the interior of
California, brought the plant to notice. This wild plum is not common
except in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas in northern California
and southern Oregon, where it often forms thickets of small trees along
streams, thriving in fresh, fertile, sandy soils, in canons, on hillsides
or in the forests of yellow pine which are found in this region.
Hammond[124] writes of it growing here as usually a small tree but often
seen as a shrub from four to five feet high. Of the frequency of the
occurrence he says: “It often sets the whole countryside ablaze in the
autumn, with the abundance of its scarlet and crimson colors, mingled, of
course, with red and yellow, and garnished with a sprinkling of green.”
Sandberg[125] reports having collected _Prunus subcordata_ as far north
and east as Nez Perces County, northern Idaho, in the Craig Mountains at
an altitude of about 2,900 feet, but this report is based on an error
in determination, the specimen collected by Sandberg being clearly a
European species. The tree and the fruit vary greatly according to the
locality.
This Subcordata plum is one of the standard food products of the
aborigines in the region in which it grows, being eaten either raw or
cooked; and it is sometimes dried in considerable quantities at the
harvesting places and carried considerable distances to the Indian
villages.[126] The trappers, the first men to enter the habitat of this
plum, followed by the gold-seekers and ranchers, all knew and esteemed
the fruit. The early settlers regarded it as the most useful of all the
wild fruits of the Coast and attempts were made at an early date to
domesticate it. Of these Wickson says:[127]
“In 1856 there was, on the Middle Yuba River, not far from
Forest City, in Sierra County, a wayside establishment known as
‘Plum Valley Ranch,’ so-called from the great quantity of wild
plums growing on and about the place. The plum by cultivation
gave a more vigorous growth and larger fruit. Transplanted
from the mountains into the valley they are found to ripen
earlier. Transplanted from the mountains to a farm near the
coast, in Del Norte County, they did not thrive. One variety,
moved from the hills near Petaluma in 1858, was grown as an
orchard tree for fifteen years, and improved both in growth and
quality of fruit by cultivation.... Recently excellent results
have been reported from the domestication of the native plum
in Nevada County, and fruit shown at the State Fair of 1888
gave assurance that by cultivation and by selecting seedlings
valuable varieties can be obtained. It is stated that in Sierra
County the wild plum is the only plum which finds a market at
good prices, and that cultivated gages, blue and egg plums
scarcely pay for gathering. The wild plum makes delicious
preserves.”
In its typical form _Prunus subcordata_ is a shrub and is often only
a low bush but under the most favorable conditions it attains the
dimension and shape of a small tree. In its roundish, roughish leaves it
so closely resembles the Old World types of plums that it becomes the
nearest approach to them to be found among our American species. But in
the globular, red or purple subacid fruit it betrays its affinity to the
American plums, as it does also in the flat, sometimes turgid, smooth
stone to which the flesh tenaciously clings. The flowers are white,
fading to rose and borne abundantly, making the plant an attractive
ornamental in blooming time as it is also in the autumn when the foliage
turns to brilliant red, scarlet or crimson with touches of yellow. The
fruit is sometimes so poor in quality as to be inedible but on the other
hand is sometimes quite equal to some of the cultivated plums, especially
in its botanical variety, Kelloggii.
That the fruit is capable of improvement by the selection of seedling
varieties and useful in hybridizing with other species can hardly be
doubted. Luther Burbank, under date of December 6, 1909, writes in this
regard as follows:
“The _Prunus subcordata_, as it grows wild, bears very heavily
even on bushes two and three feet in height, bending the bushes
flat on the ground when the fruit is ripe. This is a very
beautiful sight. The wild ones, although almost invariably
bright red and spherical, are sometimes, though rarely found,
yellow. When the seed of the yellow fruit is planted a certain
portion of red ones are produced, but all, practically, of the
same size and quality as the original. The trees of Subcordata
in the wild state are greatly variable in growth, generally
much more so than in the fruit. The fruit, however, varies much
in quality, but it is promiscuously gathered by those living in
the vicinity of the plum grounds and considered most excellent
for cooking. I commenced working on this species about
twenty-two years ago and have not carried it on as extensively
as with the Maritima, as I found it subject to plum-pockets,
but by very careful selection I have produced most magnificent
plums, oval in form or round, sweet as honey or sweet as the
French Prune, greatly enlarged in size, tree improved in growth
and enormously productive, the different varieties ripening
through a long season. Most of these are light and dark red.
Some of them, when cooked, are far superior to cranberries,
having the exact delicious flavor so much liked in this fruit,
and the same color.
“From the crosses of Subcordata with the Americana, Nigra,
Triflora and other species, some of the most beautiful and
highest flavored fruits which I have ever seen have been
produced. These vary in color from almost pure white to
light yellow, transparent flesh color, pink, light crimson,
scarlet, dark crimson and purple; in form round, egg-shaped
or elongated-oval; trees both upright and weeping, enormously
productive, and in one or two cases the fruit, by hundreds of
experts, has been pronounced the best plum in flavor of any in
existence. Most of these selections are extremely productive.”
Wickson[128] reports that the roots of Subcordata have been used more
or less as stocks for other plums but show no marked advantages over
the species commonly used for this purpose. Most of those who have
experimented with it condemn it as a stock because it dwarfs the cion and
suckers badly.
_Prunus oregana_ Greene[129] is from its description an interesting plum
of which, however, it has been impossible to secure a glimpse even of
herbarium material and of which we can therefore, only publish Greene’s
description as follows:
“Evidently allied to P. _subcordata_, but leaves little more than an inch
long, subcoriaceous, pubescent on both faces, in outline oval or broadly
elliptic, never subcordate, commonly acutish at both ends, serrulate;
flowers unknown; fruits in pairs or threes, on pedicels one-half inch
long or more, densely tomentose when very young, more thinly so, yet
distinctly tomentulose when half-grown.
“Known only from specimens collected on the Yanex Indian reservation
in southeastern Oregon, by Mrs. Austin, in 1893; and a most remarkable
species, as connecting true _Prunus_ with _Amygdalus_. But that it is a
plum and not an almond is evident.”
Without any first-hand knowledge of this species it is thought best to
consider it only under the allied species, _Prunus subcordata_.
=PRUNUS SUBCORDATA KELLOGGII= Lemmon
=1.= Lemmon _Pittonia_ =2=:67. 1890. =2.= Wickson _Calif. Fr._
Ed. =2=:51. 1891. =3.= Greene _Fl. Francis_ =1=:50. 1891. =4.=
Bailey _Cyc. Am. Hort._ 1448. 1901.
_Prunus subcordata kelloggii_, named in honor of Dr. Albert Kellogg,
an early explorer and settler in California, is distinguished from the
species in being a somewhat taller and more slender plant.[130] The
branches and bark are of a characteristic ash-gray, so distinct in color
from _Prunus subcordata_ that this is often called the “Gray-branch”
plum. The leaves are orbicular or elliptical, not cordate, cuneate
at the base and nearly glabrous. The fruit is bright yellow instead
of red and larger than that of the species, being an inch or more in
diameter with a more nearly free stone. This plum inhabits the region of
Mount Shasta where it has been known since the time of the early gold
diggers, attracting more attention as a food, and promising more for
the cultivator than Subcordata. Botanists seem to have given this plum
comparatively little attention and careful study may give it specific
rank. Locally, and now somewhat in the trade, it is known as the Sisson
plum, after a Mr. Sisson, living near Mount Shasta, who has brought it to
notice. At present the Kelloggii seems to be the branch of promise for
the improvement of the wild plums of the western coast.
=15. PRUNUS UMBELLATA= Elliott
=1.= Elliott _Sk. Bot. S. C. and Ga._ =1=:541. 1821. 2. Sargent
_10th Cen. U. S._ =9=:67. 1883. 3. Ibid. _Sil. N. Am._ =4=:33.
Pl. 155. 1892. =4.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 91. 1901. =5.= Mohr
_Cont. U. S. Nat. Herb._ =6=:551. 1901.
_Cerasus umbellata_. =6.= Torrey and Gray _Fl. N. Am._ =1=:409.
1840.
Tree low, sometimes a shrub, seldom over twenty feet in
height; trunk short, usually crooked, attaining a thickness
of ten inches; bark dark brown and scaly; branches spreading,
slender, twiggy but spineless; branchlets at first pubescent
but becoming glabrous, bright red turning dark brown the second
year; lenticels few, oblong, yellowish.
Leaves oblong-ovate, or oblong-obovate to oblong, thin and
membranaceous, acute at the apex but usually obtuse or cordate
at the base; margins closely and evenly serrate with glandular
teeth, upper surface dark green and glabrous, lower surface
pale green and more or less pubescent; petioles stout, glabrous
or sometimes pubescent; glands usually two, sometimes wanting,
large, dark, at the base of the leaf; stipules lanceolate,
small, caducous.
Flowers medium in size, appearing before and with the leaves;
usually borne in four-flowered umbels; calyx-tube obconic, its
lobes entire, outer surface glabrous or pubescent, the inner
densely tomentose; petals white, orbicular, clawed.
Fruit matures in late summer; one-half inch in diameter, nearly
round, without cavity or suture, borne on a slender pedicel
three-quarters inch long, orange-red or bright red to purple or
nearly black, covered with a thin bloom; skin thick and tough;
flesh coarse, thick, acid or astringent, scarcely edible; stone
nearly free, flattened, acute at both ends, rugose, thin-walled.
_Prunus umbellata_, the Sloe, Black Sloe or Hog Plum, Oldfield, and
sometimes Chickasaw and Bullace of the South, is found along the seaboard
from South Carolina to central Florida, thence westward to the Gulf and
along its shores to Texas. Inland it is found as far north as middle
Georgia,[131] Alabama and Mississippi and southern Arkansas. Though very
common in localities in the region outlined, there are vast areas of
this territory in which it is scarcely found, preferring bottom lands of
rivers and rich, moist soils in some instances and dry, sandy copses,
open woods and borders of fields in others. In flower and fruit it is a
handsome and conspicuous plant, yet, as the references show, the early
botanists did not describe it, and even Elliott, who gave it its name, in
1821, passed it by with a scant description. Its neglect by the several
famous botanists of the Eighteenth Century who explored this region
must be attributed to their confusing it with _Prunus angustifolia_
and _Prunus maritima_, one or the other of which is found in most of
the region, and to the idiosyncrasies of the distribution of _Prunus
umbellata_.
The fruit of this species is unfit for dessert purposes but is commonly
gathered for culinary use and sometimes is offered for sale in the
markets of the South, being highly esteemed for pies, jams and jellies.
There appear to have been no efforts made to domesticate it, however, and
since it is quite inferior in fruit-characters to others of the native
plums, efforts to that end are probably not worth while.
=PRUNUS UMBELLATA INJUCUNDA= (Small) Sargent
=1.= Sargent _Sil. N. Am._ =13=:21. 1902.
_Prunus injucunda_. =2.= Small _Torrey Bot. Club Bul._ =25=:149.
1898. =3.= Mohr _Ibid._ =26=:118. 1899. =4.= Ibid. _Cont. U. S.
Nat. Herb._ =6=:552. 1901. =5.= Bailey _Cyc. Am. Hort._ 1449.
1901.
Tree low, seldom twenty feet in height, often a straggling
shrub; trunk short, crooked, attaining a diameter of eight
inches; bark dark brown, nearly black; branches slender, rigid,
twiggy and somewhat spiny; branchlets velvety becoming purplish
and finally a dull gray; lenticels few, yellowish.
Leaves oblong-ovate to obovate, taper-pointed at the apex and
obtuse or rounded at the base, margins closely and finely
toothed, thin in texture; upper surface yellowish-green,
wrinkled and more or less pubescent, lower surface densely
pubescent and with a prominent yellowish midrib and rather
prominent lateral veins; petioles stout, one-half inch in
length, very pubescent; stipules lanceolate, small, caducous.
Flowers medium in size or small, usually appearing before the
leaves; in four or five-flowered sub-sessile umbels; pedicels
slender, three-quarters inch in length, very pubescent;
calyx-tube obconic, tomentose, with erect, entire, sharply
pointed, ciliate, tomentose lobes; petals white, orbicular,
clawed; filaments and base of pistil tomentose.
Fruit maturing in late summer, three-quarters inch long,
oblong, with but a trace of cavity and suture, dark purple with
light bloom; flesh thin, sour and very astringent; skin thick,
tough; scarcely edible; stone ovoid, long, flat, roughish,
pointed at both ends with a groove on one edge and a grooved
ridge on the other.
In 1898 Small described _Prunus injucunda_ as a new species from what
had hitherto been considered a part of _Prunus umbellata_. Sargent, whom
we follow, gives it as a botanical variety of _Prunus umbellata_. Small
says that the two differ as follows: _Prunus injucunda_ has “a more rigid
habit and the foliage, including the branchlets, is velvety tomentose.
In place of the sub-globose drupe of _Prunus umbellata_ we find an
oblong fruit of an extremely bitter taste. The stone is correspondingly
lengthened.” To these differences may be added tomentose or pubescent
leaves, hairy umbels, and tomentose calyx and pistil, as characters
not found in _Prunus umbellata_ though there are occasional pubescent
individuals in the species.
Small first collected _Prunus injucunda_ in sandy soil in the granite
districts about the base of Little Stone Mountain, Georgia, and reports
it as occurring about Stone Mountain. Mohr reports the plant on rocky
summits and among the sandstone cliffs of Alpine Mountain, Talladego
County, Alabama, as a low, unsightly shrub, four feet in height, with
short, straggling branches. The wild fruit is seldom fit for domestic use
and with so much better material in other species the fruit-grower can
hardly afford to spend time in an attempt to domesticate this one.
=16.= =PRUNUS MITIS= Beadle
=1.= Beadle _Bilt. Bot. Stud._ =1=:162. 1902. =2.= Britton and
Brown _N. Am. Trees_ 489. 1908.
Tree small, maximum height twenty-five feet; bark dark brown
or reddish-gray; branches spreading or ascending, usually
unarmed; branchlets glabrous, glaucous; leaves thin, elliptic,
oblong-lanceolate, sometimes ovate or obovate, apex acute or
acuminate, base narrow or rounded, margin sharply serrate;
petioles less than one-half inch, densely pubescent, with two
glands at or on the base of the leaf; upper surface bright
green, finely pubescent, lower surface paler, also pubescent
and with a prominent midrib and veins.
Flowers of medium size, appearing before the leaves; borne in
sub-sessile, two to six-flowered umbels; calyx-tube obconic,
smooth, its lobes triangular, pubescent on the outer and
velvety on the inner surface; petals white, obovate, clawed;
pedicels slender, smooth, three-quarters inch long.
Fruit ripening in mid-summer; over one-half inch in length,
oblong, dark purple with a heavy bloom; stone ovoid or oval,
flattened, nearly one-half inch long, pointed at both ends
especially at the apex, and crested on one edge.
_Prunus mitis_ is a newly named species from Alabama, common in dry soils
in the regions where it is found wild. The species has many characters
in common with _Prunus umbellata_ to which it is so closely related that
it is difficult to distinguish the two in herbarium specimens. Although
nothing is yet known of its horticultural possibilities the apparent
relationship does not indicate much value in the plum for the cultivator.
=17.= =PRUNUS TARDA= Sargent
=1.= Sargent _Bot. Gaz._ =33=:108. 1902. =2.= Ibid. _Sil. N.
Am._ =13=:23, Pl. 632. 1902.
Tree from twenty to twenty-five feet in height; trunk tall,
eighteen or twenty inches in diameter; bark light brown,
reddish, thick, with flat ridges and plate-like scales;
branches spreading, forming an open symmetrical head;
branchlets slender, at first light green and tomentose becoming
glabrous, light brownish and lustrous, and the second year much
darker; lenticels small, dark, scattered.
Leaves oblong to obovate, apex acute and sharp-pointed, base
rounded or cuneate, margin finely serrate with incurved,
glandular teeth, in texture thick and firm; upper surface
glabrous, dark yellow-green, lower surface pubescent, pale
green; petioles stout, tomentose or pubescent, short,
eglandular or with two stalked, dark glands at the apex;
stipules acicular, often bright red, small.
Flowers three-quarters inch across, appearing before and with
the leaves; borne in two or three-flowered umbels, on slender,
glabrous pedicels; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, hairy above,
the lobes acute, entire, villose on the outer, tomentose on the
inner surface; petals oblong-obovate with a short claw at the
base; filaments and pistils glabrous.
Fruit maturing very late; short-oblong to sub-globose,
one-third to one-half inch in length, red, yellow, purple,
black or blue; skin tough and thick; flesh thick and acid;
stone adhering to the flesh, ovoid, more or less compressed,
very rugose, ridged on the ventral and grooved on the dorsal
suture, acute at the apex, rounded at the base.
_Prunus tarda_, locally known as the Sloe, as are many other plums, was
named from specimens collected in 1901 near Marshall, Texas, by Sargent
and others. Sargent, to whom is due what field knowledge we have of the
plant, gives its range from where found in Texas to western Louisiana
and southern Arkansas. He says that it resembles and is often confounded
with _Prunus umbellata_ but may be distinguished from it by its bark,
which differs from that of any other American plum tree, being more like
that of the chinquapin chestnut with which it grows; by the pubescence on
the leaves, not usually found on those of _Prunus umbellata_; and by its
variously colored fruit which ripens much later than that of other plums
in the region. From what has been published in regard to the species
one gathers little in regard to its horticultural possibilities though
the statements that it bears great quantities of fruit and is used
locally for culinary purposes indicate that it may have some value under
cultivation.
=18.= =PRUNUS ANGUSTIFOLIA= Marshall
=1.= Marshall _Arb. Am._ 111. 1785. =2.= Torrey and Gray _Fl.
N. Am._ =1=:407. 1840. =3.= Loudon _Arb. Fr. Brit._ =2=:705.
1844. =4.= Sargent _10th Cen. U. S._ =9=:66. 1883. =5.= Watson
and Coulter _Gray’s Man._ Ed. =6=:152. 1889 (in part). =6.=
Gray _For. Trees N. A._ 47, Pl. 1891. =7.= Sargent _Sil. N.
Am._ =4=:25, Pl. 152. 1892. =8.= Mohr _Cont. U. S. Nat. Herb._
=6=:551. 1901.
_P. chicasa._ =9.= Michaux[132] _Fl. Bor. Am._ =1=:284. 1803.
=10.= Nuttall _Gen. N. Am. Pl._ =1=:302. 1818. =11.= Elliott
_Sk. Bot. S. C. and Ga._ =1=:542. 1821. =12.= Hall _Pl. Texas_
9. 1873. =13.= Ridgway _Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus._ 65. 1882. =14.=
Chapman _Fl. Sou. U. S._ 131. 1897.
Plant seldom becoming a true tree, usually, however, forming a
small but distinct trunk with a twiggy, bushy top; bark thin,
dark reddish-brown, slightly furrowed or roughened, scaly;
branches slender, usually zigzag with long, thin thorns or
spine-like branchlets; branchlets slender, zigzag, glabrous,
glossy, bright red; lenticels few, scattered, yellowish, raised.
Winter-buds small, obtuse, free, brownish; leaves folded
upward, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, pointed at both ends,
thin, membranaceous, margins closely and finely serrate with
minute teeth, tipped with glands; upper surface glabrous,
lustrous, bright green, lower surface glabrous or pubescent
in the axils of the veins, dull, two-thirds inch wide and
from one to two inches long; petioles one-half inch long,
slender, glabrous or tomentose, bright red with two red glands
near or on the base of the leaf; stipules one-half inch long,
narrow-lobed, serrate with gland-tipped teeth.
Flowers appearing with or before the leaves, small, less than
one-half inch across, very numerous; umbels sub-sessile, two to
four-flowered, from lateral spurs or buds; pedicels glabrous,
slender, one-half inch in length; calyx-tube campanulate,
glabrous; calyx-lobes obtuse, glabrous outside, margins
ciliate, inner surface pubescent, reflexed; petals creamy in
the bud, obovate, apex rounded, narrowing into a claw at the
base; filaments and pistils glabrous, the latter shorter than
the stamens.
Fruit ripening early; spherical or ovoid, three-quarters inch
in diameter, bright red, sometimes yellow, glossy, with little
or no bloom; dots numerous, very conspicuous; skin thin;
flesh tender, juicy, yellow, subacid; quality rather poor;
stone small, clinging, ovoid, turgid, slightly roughened,
cherry-like, edges rounded, the dorsal one grooved.
The original home of _Prunus angustifolia_ is not known. The inference is
left in most of the botanies that the species is not indigenous in the
region east of the Mississippi, but that it was brought by the aborigines
from the southwestern section of the Mississippi Valley or possibly the
southern Rocky Mountains or Mexico. The chief reason for the belief that
it does not belong where it now grows is the fact that it is usually
found near human habitations and on the margins of fields and as it was
known to have been cultivated by the Indians,[133] it is supposed to have
escaped from their semi-cultivated plantations. Bailey[134] dissents from
the current view, holding that the plant behaves like a true native in
regions where he has known it, Maryland in particular. It seems to the
writer that Bartram’s supposition, given in the foot-note below, has been
followed too closely. A careful study of recent botanical works indicates
that the species is indigenous to the southeastern United States.
Whatever the original habitat may have been it is now found in the wild
state from southern Delaware to Florida and westward to the Panhandle of
Texas and southern Oklahoma. It is usually found on rich soils but is
found as well in worn-out fields and pastures, most often in thickets
of small trees or thorny shrubs or scraggly bushes, producing under the
latter conditions a small fruit so like cherries as to give it the name
in some localities “Mountain Cherry” (Maryland), and in others “Wild
Cherry” (Louisiana).
There has been much confusion in regard to _Prunus angustifolia_. The
older botanists very generally mistook this species for Michaux’s
_Prunus chicasa_ which, as stated in the foot-note on page 82, is almost
certainly not the plum under discussion. Practically all horticulturists
ascribe to _Prunus angustifolia_ a great number of cultivated varieties
which cannot by any possibility belong here; indeed, it is doubtful if
the species is cultivated at all other than very locally, and still
more doubtful as to whether, as compared with other native plums,
it is worth growing. In spite of this confusion the species is one
of the most distinct of plums, and its characters are comparatively
constant throughout the range. A careful reading of Humphrey Marshall’s
description of _Prunus angustifolia_ by subsequent botanists might have
helped to keep this plum in its place. Marshall wrote of it:
“Prunus angustifolia. Chicasaw Plumb. This is scarcely of so large a
growth as the former [_P. americana_], but rising with a stiff, shrubby
stalk, dividing into many branches, which are garnished with smooth,
lance-shaped leaves, much smaller and narrower than the first kind [_P.
americana_], a little waved on their edges, marked with very fine,
slight, coloured serratures, and of an equal shining green colour, on
both sides. The blossoms generally come out very thick and are succeeded
by oval, or often somewhat egg-shaped fruit, with a very thin skin, and
soft, sweet pulp. There are varieties of this with yellow and crimson
coloured fruit. These being natives of the Southern states, are somewhat
impatient of much cold.”
The tree-characters given by Marshall are hardly those of the plum under
cultivation which we have been calling _Prunus angustifolia_, and his
statement that the species is “impatient of much cold” at once separates
the cultivated “Angustifolias” from the true species. We shall contrast
the tree-characters of the two groups of plums in the discussion of
_Prunus munsoniana_. Of the hardiness of the two it may be said that the
cultivated varieties which we have placed in the last named species are
for the most part hardy as far north as Burlington, Vermont, while the
true _Prunus angustifolia_ cannot be grown to fruiting as far north as
Geneva, New York. Its behavior, too, on the northern limit of its range,
and the fact that it did not follow the aborigines northward as it seems
to have followed them from place to place within its range, show that
_Prunus angustifolia_ belongs in the southern states.
This plum was well known by the early colonists of Virginia and
southward. John Smith in Virginia, in 1607-9, and Strachey, writing
a few years later, saw “cherries much like a damoizm, but for their
taste and cullour we called them cherries.” Beverly in his _History of
Virginia_, written in 1822, speaks of two sorts of plums, “the black and
the Murrey Plum, both of which are small and have much the same relish
with the Damasine”; the latter was probably the Angustifolia. Lawson in
his _History of Carolina_ speaks of several plums,[135] one of which,
the Indian plum, must have been the fruit of the present discussion.
Bruce[136] quotes a letter from William Fitzhugh, written in 1686, in
which the latter speaks of the “Indian Cherry,” meaning of course, this
plum; for it still passes under the same name.
Of the horticultural possibilities of _Prunus angustifolia_, little
can be said from this Station as the trees cannot be grown here. But
since the species has been so long known, and is so near at hand to
fruit-growers, without more of its offspring coming under cultivation,
it is not likely that it may be counted upon to bring forth much in the
future for the orchard. Such trees and fruits of this species as the
writer has seen are not at all promising for the cultivator.
=PRUNUS ANGUSTIFOLIA WATSONI= (Sargent) Waugh[137]
=1.= Waugh _Vt. Sta. An. Rpt._ =12=:239. 1899. =2.= Bailey
_Cyc. Am. Hort._ 1450 fig. 1901.
_P. watsoni._ =3.= Sargent _Gar. and For._ =7=:134, fig. 1894.
=4.= Waugh _Bot. Gaz._ =26=:53. 1898. =5.= Bailey _Ev. Nat.
Fr._ 218. 1898.
Shrub four to ten feet high; branches slender, short-jointed,
zigzag, reddish-brown; branchlets at first bright red and
lustrous, later becoming brownish-red or sometimes ashy-gray;
lenticels few and light-colored; leaves small, ovate, apex
acute, base rounded or cuneate, margins finely crenulate; upper
surface glabrous, shining, lower surface paler, glabrous;
petioles reddish, one-half inch in length, biglandular at the
apex.
Flowers in fascicles of two to four, borne with or before the
leaves and in great abundance; calyx cup-shaped, the lobes
acute, eglandular, ciliate on the margins, pubescent on the
inner surface; petals white, obovate, contracted into a claw at
the base; filaments glabrous, anthers reddish, style slender,
exserted; pedicels one-quarter inch long.
Fruit two-thirds inch in diameter, globose, sometimes oblong,
orange-red, bloomless, handsome; skin thin, rather tender;
flesh yellow, juicy, tender, pleasant flavor; of comparatively
high quality; stone somewhat turgid, compressed at the apex,
thick-walled, rounded on the ventral and sometimes on the
dorsal suture.
_Prunus angustifolia watsoni_ is the Sand plum of the plains, being an
inhabitant of southern and southeastern Nebraska and central and western
Kansas and possibly passing into western Oklahoma. It is usually found
along the banks of streams and rivers where it often forms shrubby
thickets. The wild plums are held in high esteem for dessert and
culinary purposes, becoming a commercial product in parts of the region
in which they grow, and are occasionally transplanted to the garden or
orchard. From such transplantings a half dozen varieties have arisen.
The productiveness, hardiness to heat and cold and the size and quality
of the fruits should attract plum-growers in the region of its habitat
and experimenters elsewhere as well. Waugh[138] gives the following
interesting sketch of the use to which this plum has been put in Kansas:
“Early settlers in Kansas, before their own orchard plantings
came into bearing, used to find the sand plums well worth their
attention. In July and August everybody for fifty miles back
from the Arkansas sand hills used to flock thither to pick, and
it was an improvident or an unlucky family which came off with
less than four or five bushels to can for winter. Whole wagon
loads of fruit were often secured, and were sometimes offered
for sale in neighboring towns.
“The fruit gathered from the wild trees was of remarkably fine
quality, considering the conditions under which it grew. The
plums were quite uniformly large—I would say from memory that
they often reached three-fourths of an inch to an inch in
diameter. They were thin-skinned and of good flavor, not having
the unpleasant astringency of the wild Americana plums, which
were also sometimes gathered. They were excellent for canning
and made the finest of jelly.
“Naturally, the settlers who went every year to the sand hills
for plums brought back trees to plant in the gardens they were
opening. Almost every farm within the range mentioned above
had a few or many of the dwarf trees growing. Some of these
were fruitful and worth their room, but most of them have now
died out, or are neglected and forgotten. This is because
people have paid no attention to their selection, propagation
and cultivation. Further than this, however, the sand plum has
often failed signally to come up to its record when transferred
to cultivation. It seems not to adapt itself readily to a wide
diversity of soils and conditions.”
The sub-species is easily mistaken for the species; in herbarium
specimens it is almost impossible to distinguish between them, but in
general the Sand plum differs from Angustifolia in its dwarfer habit,
shorter-jointed, zigzag, ashy-gray branches, smaller but thicker leaves,
larger, thicker skinned and better flavored fruit which ripens later, and
in a smaller and somewhat differently marked stone. In distinguishing the
two groups some allowance must be made for the adaptability of plums to
different environments.
=PRUNUS ANGUSTIFOLIA VARIANS= Wight and Hedrick
Plant a small tree, attaining a height of twenty-five feet;
trunk small but well-defined; branches spreading, bushy,
sometimes armed with spinescent branchlets; young wood slender,
more or less zigzag, usually glabrous, glossy, reddish but
approaching a chestnut-brown; lenticels few, scattered,
yellowish, raised.
Leaves oblong, oval-lanceolate or rarely slightly
obovate-lanceolate, one and one-fifth to two and one-fifth
inches long, three-quarters to one inch broad, gradually
narrowed at the base, acute at the apex; margins very minutely
glandular-serrate; upper surface glabrous and somewhat
lustrous; lower surface paler, glabrous or sparingly hairy
along the midrib and in the axils of the lateral veins;
petioles slender, usually reddish, about one-half inch long,
pubescent along the upper side, eglandular or sometimes with
one or two glands at the apex; stipules small, linear and
glandular-dentate.
Flowers appearing from early in March and before the leaves
in the South, to the middle of April and with the leaves in
the North, in dried specimens about one-half inch broad;
pedicels three-eighths to one-half inch long, glabrous;
calyx campanulate, the tube glabrous; calyx-lobes usually
shorter than the tube, oblong and obtuse, glabrous on the
outer surface, glabrous or sometimes sparingly pubescent on
the inner, the margin ciliate, eglandular; petals obovate,
gradually narrowed toward the base, erose or entire toward the
apex.
Fruit globose or sub-globose, varying from red to yellow,
usually with a light bloom; stone about one-half inch long,
two-fifths inch broad, turgid, ovoid to elliptic-oblong,
obscurely pointed at the apex or sometimes slightly obtuse,
truncate or obliquely truncate at the base, grooved on the
dorsal edge, ventral edge with a narrow, thickened and slightly
grooved wing, the surfaces irregularly roughened.
Yellow Transparent may be considered a typical variety. Type specimens in
the Economic Collection of the Department of Agriculture were collected
at the Eastern Shore Nurseries of J. W. Kerr, Denton, Maryland, (flowers)
I. Tidestrom, April, 1910; (foliage and fruit) P. L. Ricker No. 2933,
June 29, 1909.
In the wild, _Prunus angustifolia varians_ forms dense thickets, the
larger specimens attaining a height of ten or twelve feet. When budded
and grown in the orchard it assumes the form of a small tree with well
defined trunk and spreading branches, sometimes armed with rather slender
spinescent branchlets. It is distinguished from the species by its
usually more robust habit, by its having the young twigs less reddish
and approaching a chestnut-brown in color, rather longer leaves, longer
pediceled flowers, and by the stone in most cases being more pointed
at the apex. Usually in more fertile soil than the species, it occurs
locally from southern Oklahoma through eastern Texas southward possibly
to the Colorado River, and probably westward to the Panhandle region. As
yet, however, its distribution is not well defined.
Nearly all of the early ripening horticultural varieties previously
referred to _Prunus angustifolia_ belong to _Prunus angustifolia
varians_. The fruit of the sub-species appears to be superior to that of
the species though scarcely equal to that of the other southern plums now
cultivated. Hybrids between this form and _Prunus munsoniana_ undoubtedly
occur freely both in the wild state and under cultivation. The varieties
Eagle and El Paso have probably originated in this way. Nearly all of the
plums belonging to this species, some twenty in all, are tender to cold,
none, so far as is known, succeeding in the North. African, Cluck, Jennie
Lucas and Yellow Transparent may be named as representative varieties.
=19.= =PRUNUS MUNSONIANA=[139] Wight and Hedrick
[Illustration: _PRUNUS MUNSONIANA_]
_Prunus angustifolia._ =1.= Bailey _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =38=:58.
1892 (in part). =2.= Ibid. _Ev. Nat. Fr._ 191-194. 1898 (in
part). =3.= Waugh _Vt. Sta. An. Rpt._ =10=:99, 105. 1897 (in
part).
_Prunus hortulana._ =4.= Bailey _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =38=:48.
1892 (in part). =5.= Waugh _Vt. Sta. An. Rpt._ =10=:99,
103-105. 1896-97 (in part).
Tree medium to large, from twenty to thirty feet in height;
trunk six to ten inches in diameter; bark grayish-brown,
shaggy, furrowed; branches spreading, rather slender, zigzag,
little or not at all thorny; branchlets slender, zigzag,
reddish, lustrous, glabrous; lenticels numerous, large, raised.
Winter-buds small, short, obtuse, usually free; leaves one and
one-quarter inches wide by four inches long, lanceolate to
oblong-lanceolate, sometimes broadly so, somewhat folded, apex
acute or tapering, usually rounded at the base, texture thin,
margins closely and finely serrate, teeth with small, dark red
glands; upper surface bright green, glabrous, lustrous; lower
surface dull green, pubescence sparse along the midrib and
veins or sometimes tufted in the axils; petioles slender, about
three-quarters of an inch long, pubescent on the upper surface,
reddish, usually with two glands at the base of the leaf-blade;
stipules linear, glandular, serrate.
Flowers appearing before or with the leaves, season of
blooming late, about three-quarters inch across, odor
sometimes disagreeable; borne on lateral spurs and buds, two
or four flowers in a cluster; pedicels one half inch long,
slender, glabrous; calyx-tube campanulate, glabrous, obscurely
nerved, about one-fourth length of the pedicel; calyx-lobes
as long as tube, ovate-oblong, obtuse at the apex, usually
glabrous outside, pubescent inside at least toward the base,
glandular-ciliate, erect; petals one-third inch long, white,
creamy in the bud, oval or obovate, margins slightly erose,
abruptly tapering into a claw, sometimes pubescent; stamens
about twenty in number, equal to or shorter than the petals;
filaments glabrous; anthers yellow or sometimes tinged red;
pistils glabrous shorter than the stamens.
Fruit ripening early; globose or oval, shortest diameter about
an inch, bright currant-red, rarely yellow; bloom thin; dots
few or numerous, whitish, large or small, always conspicuous;
cavity shallow, narrow; suture a line; apex rounded or slightly
depressed; flesh light to dark yellow, juicy, soft or melting,
fibrous, sweetish, sour at the pit, aromatic; good; stone
clinging to the flesh, varying from about one-half inch in
length in the wild fruits to at least three-quarters inch in
cultivated varieties, turgid, oval, prolonged and pointed at
the apex, usually obliquely truncate at the base, more or less
roughened, grooved on the dorsal edge, thick-margined and
markedly grooved on the ventral one.
The description of this species is based on both wild and cultivated
material, and the variety Arkansas may be considered as a typical
representative. Type specimens, deposited in the Economic Collection
of the United States Department of Agriculture, were collected by W.
F. Wight (flowers) at the New York State Experiment Station, Geneva,
New York, No. 2721, May 15, 1909, and (foliage) at the Iowa Experiment
Station, Ames, Iowa, No. 4178, September 15, 1909.
This species differs from _Prunus angustifolia_, with which it has long
been confused, chiefly in being a much larger plant, a true tree while
the other seldom reaches the size of a tree. It has coarser and less
twiggy branches, shaggier bark and less red in the color of the young
wood. The leaves are larger, thicker, more truly lanceolate in shape,
less folded, a lighter green and less glossy. The flowers of the new
species are larger, fewer in number, borne in less dense umbels which
are not so nearly sessile as those of the older species and are borne on
longer pedicels. The calyx-lobes are erect in this species and reflexed
in _Prunus angustifolia_, strongly marked by marginal glands in _Prunus
munsoniana_ and eglandular in _Prunus angustifolia_. The fruits are
larger and wholly plum-like in the newly made species and cherry-like in
_Prunus angustifolia_. The stone is very plum-like in _Prunus munsoniana_
but in the older species it might easily be mistaken for the pit of a
cherry. The robust form is hardy as far north as Geneva, New York, at
least, while the other species cannot be grown much north of Mason and
Dixon’s line.
Of the varieties which certainly belong to this species by far the
greatest number have originated under cultivation. There is herbarium
material from uncultivated plants to show that this species is rather
common in the northern part of Texas, in eastern Oklahoma and in parts
of Missouri. It is a species forming dense thickets in its native
habitat, where it is usually found in rather rich soils, with the older
central specimens sometimes attaining a height of twenty to twenty-five
feet and gradually diminishing in height to the edge of the thicket.
When budded and grown in the orchard it forms a well-defined trunk and
attains a height of twenty-five feet or more. The branches are little or
not at all spinescent, bark of the stem in young specimens reddish or
chestnut-brown, and usually rather smooth, becoming scaly and losing its
reddish color with age, that of the young twigs usually chestnut-brown.
Its natural range, though not yet definitely determined, probably extends
from central Tennessee through northern Mississippi, northern Arkansas,
central Missouri and southeastern Kansas to the valley of the Little
Wichita River in northern Texas.
The Wild Goose varieties, now placed here, in the past have been
considered hybrids more closely resembling _Prunus hortulana_ than any
other species. But Wild Goose and some other varieties of its group are
not to be distinguished from _Prunus munsoniana_ and beyond question
belong in this species. The varieties in this division of Munsoniana
are largely seedlings of Wild Goose, each variety possibly with a
different male parent since Wild Goose seldom or never fruits unless
cross-fertilized. Thus, of these plums, twelve are known seedlings of
Wild Goose; seven others originated under cultivation; the origin of
fourteen is not known and it is not certain that any beside Wild Goose
came from wild plants. From such a record, and from the characters of
the plants, it is probable that some of the Wild Goose varieties are
horticultural hybrids, many of them from H. A. Terry of Iowa in whose
work, with many varieties of several species, hybridity was the rule.
Horticulturally, this is the most important group of native plums for
the South; it contains a greater number of cultivated varieties than
any other native species excepting _Prunus americana_, no less than
sixty sorts being listed in _The Plums of New York_, some of which
are deservedly the best known of the native plums for either home or
market use. For dessert or the kitchen they are particularly valuable,
having a sprightly vinous flavor making them very pleasant flavored to
eat out of hand or when cooked. Their bright colors, semi-transparent
skins and well-turned forms make them very attractive in appearance.
Considering the juiciness of most of the varieties, these plums ship and
keep well. Unfortunately nearly all of the varieties of this species
are clingstones. This group hybridizes more freely than any other of
the plums and there are a great number of promising hybrids of which
it is one of the parents. Of all plums, these are most in need of
cross-pollination, some of the varieties being nearly or, as in the case
of Wild Goose, wholly self-sterile. While these plums are especially
valuable in the Southern States, some of them are desirable in the North
as well, where all will grow at least as far north as central New York.
Plums of this species are occasionally but not often used as stocks. Some
recommend them for stocks for low or wet lands. The fact that _Prunus
munsoniana_ suckers very badly will probably preclude its use largely in
propagating.
The leading varieties under cultivation of this species are Arkansas,
Pottawattamie, Robinson, Newman, Wild Goose and Downing, all of which are
described in full and illustrated in colors in _The Plums of New York_.
The first four of these have in the past been referred by botanists
and pomologists to _Prunus angustifolia_ and the last two to _Prunus
hortulana_.
=20.= =PRUNUS MARITIMA= Marshall
=1.= Marshall _Arbust. Am._ 112. 1785. =2.= Wangenheim _Amer._
103. 1787. =3.= Michaux _Fl. Bor. Am._ =1=:284. 1803. =4.= Pursh
_Fl. Am. Sept._ 332. 1814. =5.= Nuttall _Gen. N. Am. Pl._
=1=:302. 1818. =6.= Elliott _Sk. Bot. S. C. and Ga._ =1=:543.
1821. =7.= Torrey and Gray _Fl. N. Am._ =1=:408. 1840. =8.=
Torrey _Fl. N. Y._ =1=:194. 1843. =9.= Emerson _Trees of Mass._
449. 1846. =10.= Bailey _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =38=:75, fig. No.
9. 1892. =11.= Waugh _Vt. Sta. An. Rpt._ =12=:234. 1899. =12.=
Bailey _Cyc. Am. Hort._ 1449, fig. 1901.
_P. littoralis._ =13.= Bigelow _Fl. Bost._ Ed. =2=:193. 1824.
_P. pubescens._ =14.= Torrey _Fl. U. S._ 469. 1824.
_Cerasus pubescens._ =15.= Seringe _DC. Prodr._ =2=:538. 1825.
=16.= _Beck Bot. Nor. and Mid. U. S._ 96. 1833.
Shrub four to ten feet high, sometimes a low tree under
cultivation; main branches decumbent and straggling or upright
and stout; bark dark brown or reddish, more or less spiny,
often warty; branchlets slightly pubescent at first, becoming
glabrous, dark reddish-brown, straight or slightly zigzag and
rather slender; lenticels few, small, dark.
Winter-buds small, long, acute, with small reddish scales;
leaves oval or obovate, short-acute or nearly obtuse at the
apex, rounded or nearly acute at the base, margins closely and
evenly serrate, thinnish or thickish and somewhat leathery;
upper surface glabrous, dull green, lower surface paler and
more or less pubescent; petioles less than one-half inch long,
stout, tomentose or glabrous; glands two, sometimes more, at
the base of the leaves.
Flowers small, appearing before the leaves but the latest
of any of the hardy plums; borne in three-flowered umbels
closely set along the rigid branches; calyx-tube campanulate,
tomentose; petals white, sometimes pinkish, sub-orbicular,
narrowed into a claw at the base; pedicels short, slender,
stiff, tomentose.
Fruit maturing in late summer in Massachusetts; one-half inch
in diameter, globose, slightly flattened at the ends; cavity
shallow, borne on a slender pedicel more than one-half inch in
length, usually dark purple with a heavy bloom but variable,
sometimes red or less frequently yellow; skin thick, tough and
acrid; flesh crisp, juicy, sweetish; stone free from the flesh,
small, turgid, pointed at both ends, cherry-like, acutely
ridged on one and grooved on the other edge.
_Prunus maritima_, or as it has long been known, the Beach plum, is as
yet hardly grown as a domesticated fruit. It is destined, however, in the
minds of not a few, because of qualities which we shall describe, to play
a more important part in the future of the cultivated plum flora than it
has in the past. It has several valuable characters that should fit it
alike for direct cultivation and for hybridizing with other species. It
is surprising that more has not been done to domesticate the Maritima
plums for they were among the first fruits noticed by early explorers
and have always been used by both Indians and Whites for culinary
purposes. The fact that Domestica plums thrive in their habitat is the
only explanation of the non-amelioration of this plum before this.
September third, 1609, Hudson entered the river bearing his name and
found “a very good harbor, abundance of blue plums, some currants brought
by the natives dried and the country full of great and tall oaks.” The
blue plum was the Maritima; and from Hudson’s time nearly all of the
accounts of the New World given by early explorers mention this plum. It
is probably one of the plums described by Captain John Smith as a cherry
“much like a Damson;” by Edward Winslow in 1621, in a letter to England
to a friend, as one of his “plums of three sorts”; by Francis Higginson
in his _New England’s Plantation_ in 1630; described by Thomas Morton in
1632 in his _New English Canaan_ as having “fruit as bigg as our ordinary
bullis.” John Lawson, one of the first of American naturalists, describes
them rather more fully as follows:[140] “The American Damsons are both
black and white, and about the Bigness of an European Damson. They grow
any where if planted from the Stone or Slip; bear a white blossom, and
are a good fruit. They are found on the Sand-Banks all along the Coast
of America. I have planted several in my Orchard, that came from the
Stone, which thrive well amongst the rest of my Trees. But they never
grow to the Bigness of the other Trees now spoken of. These are plentiful
Bearers.” These are but a few of the many references to the Beach plum
but they are enough to show that the colonists were attracted by this
wild plum found on a long stretch of the Atlantic seaboard—probably the
first fruit to attract attention from Virginia to New England.
To be more explicit as to its range, _Prunus maritima_, in its typical
form, is an inhabitant of the sea beaches and sand dunes from New
Brunswick to the Carolinas, or possibly farther south, growing inland
usually as far as recent ocean soil formations extend. As it leaves the
seaboard marked variations make their appearance, chief of which are,
smaller, more oval, smoother and thinner leaves and smaller fruit. The
species has been reported as an inhabitant of the sands at the head of
Lake Michigan,[141] but the writer, who is well acquainted with this
region, has never seen it there, nor is it to be found in the chief
herbaria of Michigan as having been collected in the state.
In the region where it is found wild the Maritima plum is a rather common
article of trade. The fruit is usually sold by the quart, the price being
five or ten cents, and is used for both dessert and culinary purposes
though for most part for the latter.
The species is one of the most variable of the true plums and there
is, probably must ever be, much disagreement as to its botanical
relationships. Several botanical varieties of _Prunus maritima_ have
already been named and there are yet groups within the species which
seem to be nearly as distinct as those described and possibly worth
distinguishing. Since the variations show in the size, color and edible
qualities of the fruit, as well as in the characters of the plant, it
is to be expected that the species has a horticultural future though
at present it has but one cultivated variety—Bassett. Professor J. W.
Macfarlane of the University of Pennsylvania has shown well the great
range of variations in this plum both from botanical and horticultural
aspects.[142] He holds that these variations are sufficiently distinct
to make many varieties of this plum in the wild, to which DeVries agrees
with the statement that they indicate “the existence of separate races as
elementary species.”[143] The plum which Small has described as _Prunus
gravesii_, to be discussed later, is a marked variation of _Prunus
maritima_.
As it grows on the sea-coast _Prunus maritima_ is a low bush three to six
feet high, occasionally reaching a height of ten or twelve feet. Usually
the plant is straggling but sometimes it is compact or even tree-like.
Inland, on better soils, or under cultivation it makes a rather
handsome dwarf tree. The flowers are borne in great numbers, completely
covering the plant and coming later than most of the plums bloom. The
species bears fruit very abundantly, which is always attractive but of
quite diverse value for food. The fruit varies in size from a half to
three-quarters of an inch in diameter and is almost spherical, though
sometimes oval and with or without a distinct suture. The usual color is
a rich bluish-black with a waxy bloom, but red, yellow, amber and orange
fruits are often found. In taste the Maritima plums range from inedible
to nearly as rich a flavor as is found in the best of the Domestica
plums. Besides variations in the above and other qualities, Macfarlane
calls attention to the range in ripening of the fruit of this plum,
showing that it extends over a period of two months, an exceptionally
wide variation for a wild plant.
This plum has a number of qualities that commend it to the fruit-grower.
Since in the wild it grows on sandy soils it is not likely under
cultivation to make great demands on either the moisture or the fertility
of soils. It is very hardy and very productive and seldom fails to bear.
It seems to be free or nearly so from some of the pests of cultivated
plums. Lastly, the great number of wild varieties of the plums give many
starting points from which to breed cultivated varieties. Two objections
to the wild fruits are that when the fruit is harvested the juice often
exudes from the wound made by the parting from the stem, and secondly,
the secretion of some substance forming a dark colored, hard core in
the pulp which gives a very bitter taste to the fruit. The last defect
is very common in the wild plums and is probably due to the sting of an
insect. Under cultivation it may be possible to obtain fruits free from
these faults.
It would be desirable if some of the characters enumerated above could be
combined with those of other species. Burbank has hybridized the Maritima
plum with other species, with promising results. Of these he writes under
date of December 6, 1909, as follows:
“I first began raising _Prunus maritima_ about 1887—twenty-two
years ago—collecting myself and having specimens sent me
all the way from the coast of Labrador to South Carolina,
the finest of which were obtained from the eastern coast of
Massachusetts. Among the seedlings, of which I raised and
fruited several hundred thousands, were yellow, red, purple
and almost black ones, early and late, round, oval, oblate and
flattened, with big stones and little stones, free stone and
cling stone, and much variety in productiveness and growth
of the young bushes, but _not one of them_ the first two or
three generations were very much increased in size—probably
the largest being about the size of a cranberry or a small
hazelnut—and none of them of very exceptional quality, though
their habit of blooming late was a tremendous advantage, as
they invariably escaped our spring frosts. This, with their
unusual hardiness induced me to continue experimenting with
them. Finally after some ten years I obtained a very delicious
variety, about an inch in length and three-quarters of an
inch in diameter, tree much increased in size, larger foliage
and more productive and producing enormous quantities of most
delicious fruit. From this I raised a great many thousand,
almost as good and a few of them even _better_, several
hundred of which have been selected and are now bearing on my
Sebastopol place. Some of these improved seedling trees grow
five to ten times as large as the ordinary Maritima, with
larger leaves and in every possible way improved. My greatest
success with this species (and one of the most striking
occurrences in my work with plums) was produced by pollinating
one of the somewhat improved Maritimas with _Prunus triflora_.
“The very first generation, a plum was produced which is an
astonishing grower for a Maritima—almost equal to the Triflora,
with large, broad glossy foliage of almost the exact shape of
the Maritima, Maritima blossoms, and fruit weighing nearly
one-quarter of a pound each, with an improved superior Maritima
flavor, Maritima pit in form, but enlarged. The most singular
peculiarity of this plum, which is so enormous, is that the
trees commence to bloom about with the Triflora and bloom and
bear fruit all summer, so that blossoms, young fruit and the
enormous deep red ripening fruit can be seen on the trees at
the same time.”
=21.= =PRUNUS GRAVESII= Small
=1.= Small _Torrey Bot. Club Bul._ =24=:44, Pl. 292. 1897. =2.=
Britton and Brown _N. Am. Trees_ =2=:249. 1897. =3.= Robinson
and Fernald _Gray’s Man._ Ed. =7=:498. 1908.
Shrub low, slender, attaining a height of four feet; main
trunk much branched, with dark, rough bark; branches
ascending, slender, leafless, unarmed; branchlets of the
season puberulent. Leaves oval-orbicular, orbicular or
slightly obovate, rounded, retuse or apiculated at the apex,
base truncate or at least obtuse, margins sharply serrate or
crenate-serrate; upper surface sparingly pubescent or glabrous,
lower surface pubescent, especially on the veins.
Flowers white, one-half inch broad; borne in two or
three-flowered, lateral umbels, appearing with the leaves;
calyx-tube campanulate, pubescent; petals sub-orbicular,
abruptly narrowed at the base; pedicels stout, stiff, pubescent.
Fruit maturing in September; globose, one-half inch in
diameter, nearly black, with a light bloom, acid and
astringent; stone broadly oval, rounded at the apex, acute at
the base.
_Prunus gravesii_ is now known only in Connecticut, where it is found
on a gravelly ridge at Groton near Long Island Sound. It grows in the
neighborhood of _Prunus maritima_ to which it is evidently closely
related. Small in describing the species gives the following differences
between the Gravesii and the Maritima plums: (1) _Prunus gravesii_ is
more slender and delicate in habit, and matures its leaves and fruit
earlier in the season. (2) The leaf of _Prunus gravesii_ is small and
sub-orbicular while that of the other is larger and more elongated. (3)
The new species has smaller flowers with sub-orbicular petals while those
of _Prunus maritima_ are broadly obovate and gradually narrowed at the
base. (4) The fruit of _Prunus gravesii_ is smaller and more globose and
has shorter pedicels. (5) The stone is more turgid and is pointed only
at the base; that of _Prunus maritima_ is usually pointed at both ends.
(6) Sprouts arising from the ground do not produce flowers as they
frequently do in the case of _Prunus maritima_.
The cultivation of this plum has not been attempted and as compared with
Maritima it promises little for the fruit-grower.
=22.= =PRUNUS ORTHOSEPALA= Koehne
=1.= Koehne _Deut. Dend._ 311. 1893. =2.= Sargent _Gar. and
For._ =7=:184, 187 fig. 1894. =3.= Bailey _Cyc. Am. Hort._
1450. 1901.
Shrub four or five feet high; branches dense and twiggy; stems
sometimes armed with slender spines; bark separating in large,
loose scales; branchlets stout, slightly zigzag, reddish-brown
becoming dark brown.
Winter-buds obtuse, three-lobed at maturity; leaves
oblong-ovate, thin and firm, acuminate, long-pointed, two and
one-half to three inches long, two-thirds inch broad, unequally
cuneate or rounded at the base; margins closely serrate with
incurved, calloused or rarely glandular teeth; upper surface
glabrous, light green, lower surface paler and pilose; petioles
slender, slightly grooved, puberulous, one-half inch long;
glands two, large, at the apex of the petiole.
Flowers appearing after the leaves; borne in three or
four-flowered fascicles on stout pedicels one-half inch
long; calyx-tube turbinate; lobes puberulous on the outer
surface, with thick tomentum, often tipped with red on the
inner surface; petals narrowly obovate, rounded at the apex,
narrowing at the base into slender claws, white or tinged with
pink; stamens orange, exserted; style glabrous, thickened at
the apex into a truncate stigma.
Fruit globose, an inch in diameter, deep red with a heavy
bloom; skin thick; flesh yellow, juicy, of good flavor; stone
flattened, oval, slightly rugose, deeply grooved on the dorsal
and ridged on the ventral edge.
The history and habitat of Orthosepala are given by Sargent as follows:
“The history of this plant as I know it, is briefly this: In June, 1880,
Dr. George Engelmann of St. Louis, sent to the Arnold Arboretum a package
of seeds marked ‘Prunus, sp. southern Texas.’ Plants were raised from
these seeds and in 1888, or earlier, they flowered and produced fruit,
which showed that they belonged to a distinct and probably undescribed
species. A name, however, was not proposed for it, and in 1888, probably,
plants or seeds were sent to Herr Spath, of the Rixdorf Nurseries, near
Berlin, where this plum was found in flower by Dr. Emil Koehne, who has
described it under the name of _Prunus orthosepala_.”
Of the affinity of this species Sargent says: “_Prunus orthosepala_ is a
true plum, rather closely related to _Prunus hortulana_, from which it
can be distinguished by the smaller number of glands of the petioles,
by the eglandular calyx-lobes, the dark colored fruit and smoother
stone.” As the writer has seen this plum growing in the Arnold Arboretum,
Jamaica Plains, Massachusetts, and the City parks at Rochester, New
York, it seems well worth cultivating. Mr. J. W. Kerr writes of it as
follows:
“I have _P. orthosepala_ fruiting here, and with me
its fruit is exceptionally fine in quality, sparingly
produced—attributable I believe to the fact that no variety
stands near enough to it for proper inter-pollination. The
trees are rather dwarfish in habit, close-headed, with fine
clean foliage. The fruit is globular in form; size equal to
fair specimens of Hawkeye or Wyant; skin a greenish-yellow,
almost entirely covered with deep red.”
W. F. Wight of the United States Department of Agriculture has collected
specimens of a cultivated plum, taken from the wild, locally known as the
Laire, in Rooks and neighboring counties in Kansas, with foliage very
similar to _Prunus orthosepela_. While the identity of Laire with the
species under discussion cannot be established at this time, the reported
source of the seeds, “southern Texas,” from which _Prunus orthosepela_
was grown may be an error.
=23.= =PRUNUS GRACILIS= Engelmann and Gray
=1.= Engelmann and Gray _Bost. Jour. Nat. Hist._ =5=:243. 1845.
=2.= Torrey _Pac. R. Rpt._ =4=:83. 1854. =3.= Britton and Brown
_Ill. Fl._ =2=:249, fig. 1897.
_P. chicasa_ var. _normalis._ =4.= Torrey and Gray _Fl. N. Am._
=1=:407. 1840.
_P. normalis_ =5.= Small _Fl. S. E. U. S._ 572. 1903.
Shrub low, attaining a height of five or six feet; branches
many, straggling, more or less spiny; branchlets at first
densely tomentose or soft-pubescent, becoming glabrous; leaves
small, ovate-lanceolate or oval, margins finely and evenly
serrate, rather thick, texture harsh and firm; upper surface
dark green, glabrous or nearly so at maturity, lower surface
paler, soft-pubescent becoming nearly glabrous; petiole short
and stout.
Flowers white, small, appearing before the leaves; borne in
sessile, several-flowered umbels; pedicels short, slender,
soft-pubescent.
Fruit globose or oval, very small, not more than one-half inch
in diameter, variable in color, mostly in shades of red; stone
turgid, nearly orbicular, pointed at both ends.
_Prunus gracilis_ is found in dry, sandy soils from southern Kansas and
western Arkansas to central Texas. It grows most abundantly and thrives
best in Oklahoma, a fact which leads Waugh to call it the “Oklahoma”
plum. All who know the species agree that it is a near approach to
Maritima in many of its characters. This plum is very variable and
some of its forms seem not to have been well studied. As a fruit plant
Gracilis is hardly known in cultivation though Torrey says it is
cultivated in the region of its habitat under the name Prairie Cherry.
The wild fruit is used more or less locally and is sometimes offered
for sale in the markets of western towns. The quality is about the same
as that of the wild Americanas and under cultivation would probably
improve. The small size of plant and fruit are the most unpromising
characters though the species is also much subject to black-knot.
=24.= =PRUNUS RIVULARIS= Scheele
=1.= Scheele _Linnaea_ =21=:594. 1848. =2.= Gray _Pl. Wright._
=1=:67. 1852. =3.= Hall _Pl. Texas._ 9. 1873. =4.= _Coulter
Cont. U. S. Nat. Herb._ =2=:101. 1891. =5.= Waugh _Bot. Gaz._
=26=:50-52. 1898. =6.= Bailey _Ev. Nat. Fr._ 223. 1898.
Shrub three to seven feet high; branches angular, smooth,
shining, ash-colored, rough; lenticels small, crowded;
leaves oblong-ovate or sometimes ovate, rarely lanceolate,
apex acute, margins coarsely or doubly serrate, glabrous
above and sparingly pubescent below; petioles glandular,
grooved, pubescent; flowers in lateral umbels, in pairs or
several-flowered; fruit about one-half inch in diameter,
oblong-oval, cherry-red; skin thick, smooth and tough, acid.
The preceding description is largely compiled from the authors given in
the references, the writer having seen only herbarium specimens. The
species is included here largely upon the authority of Professor C. S.
Sargent of the Arnold Arboretum and W. F. Wight, who know the plant as
described by Scheele in the field. Gray described the plant as “verging
to Americana.” Bailey says “it evidently bears the same relation to
_Prunus americana_ that _Prunus watsoni_ does to the Chickasaw plum.”
Waugh is “convinced that _Prunus rivularis_ Scheele is nothing more than
one of the more distinct sub-divisions of the multiform _hortulana_
group.”[144] T. V. Munson writes me that the Waylandi plums belong in
this species. My own opinion is, from the herbarium specimens examined,
from correspondence and conversation with those who have seen the plant
in the field, that Scheele’s species is a good one and quite distinct
from the species named by Bailey, Waugh and Munson as allied to it. It is
to be looked for along the streams and bottom-lands in the neighborhood
of San Antonio and New Braunfels, Texas. The plum is locally known as
the Creek plum and in common with other plums is gathered for home
consumption. The species seems to offer but few possibilities for the
fruit-grower.