448 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



XXVIII. 1. THE PLUM TREE. PRUNUS. L. 



This genus is distinguished by its drupe, which is ovate or 

 oblong, fleshy, very smooth, covered with a glaucous or bluish 

 powder ; with the nut compressed, acute at both ends, smooth, 

 and not porous or furrowed, except by a slight furrow along the 

 margins. It contains low trees, with deciduous leaves which are 

 folded together in the bud, — natives of North America, Europe 

 and Asia, many of them thorny in a wild state. They have 

 showy flowers in fascicles or sessile umbels, rarely solitary, in 

 the axil of the last year's leaves; and most of them bear edible 

 fruits. The most highly valued cultivated plum trees are orig- 

 inally from the East, where they have been known from time 

 immemorial. In many countries of eastern Europe, domestic 

 animals are fattened on their fruits; and an alcoholic liquor 

 called Raki is obtained from them ; as is Zwetschen- Wasser, 

 in Germany ; and they yield a white, crystallizable sugar. 

 They thrive best on calcareous soils, but will grow in any 

 soil tolerably free, and not over moist, especially with a sub- 

 soil of clay. 



Most or all the cultivated plums, damsons and gages, are 

 varieties of the Primus domestica, L., the cultivated Plum Tree. 

 It is characterized by having its branches without thorns, leaves 

 lanceolate or oval, concave on the surface, usually acute; and 

 flowers mostly solitary. It is found growing wild in elevated 

 situations in southern Europe. — (D C. Prod. 533.) This spe- 

 cies, as also P. i?islititia, the Bullace Plum, are considered by 

 some botanists as varieties of the Sloe Thorn, P. spinbsa, which 

 is usually a thorny shrub or small tree. 



The wood of all the kinds of the plum is compact, close- 

 grained, hard, and beautifully veined, and takes a fine polish. 

 It is much valued and used by turners, cabinetmakers and mu- 

 sical instrument makers, on the continent of Europe, and, in 

 England, the wood of the sloe is used for handles of tools, teeth 

 of rakes, and other small articles, and for walking-sticks. 



