XXVIII. 1. THE YELLOW PLUM. I !<j 



Sp. 1. The Beach Plum. P. maritima. Wanganheim. 



Several varieties of this plum are found on Plum Island, and 

 other islands on the coast and on the beaches, and by the road- 

 side on the Cape, and in arid, sandy places, to the distance of 

 twenty miles or more from the sea. It is a low shrub, with 

 straggling branches, two to four feet in height, growing usually 

 in bunches among the loose stones or in the sand. The stem 

 is of a very dark purple, almost black, erect or prostrate, with 

 oblong, horizontal, light ashen dots. The shoots are stout, 

 brown, downy, dotted with orange. The leaves are rather 

 closely set, on short, downy footstalks, elliptical or oblong, or 

 oval, acute at each extremity, serrate, rather stiff, smooth above, 

 downy, especially on the mid-rib and veins beneath, with usu- 

 ally 1 or 2 glands near the base or on the footstalk. The flowers 

 appear just before the leaves, along the sides, near the ends of 

 the branches, from the axils of last year's leaves, in numerous 

 umbels of 2 to 6 flowers. Footstalk slender, half an inch long x 

 smooth or with minute pubescence. Segments of the calyx 

 green, obtuse, slightly downy. Petals inversely egg-shaped, 

 white. Fruit from half an inch to an inch in diameter, globu- 

 lar, varying from crimson to purple in different varieties. It 

 ripens in August and September. Flowers in May and June. 

 This is an agreeable fruit, and is preserved in considerable 

 quantities by the inhabitants of Plymouth and other maritime 

 towns, as a sweetmeat. 



Sp. 2. The Yellow Plum. Canada Plum. P. Americana. 



Marshall. 



I have not found this species growing wild in Massachusetts, 

 although, as it occurs on the north and south of us. it will pro- 

 bably be found here. It is often cultivated for its fruit, in the 

 northern parts of New England, and makes a beautiful appear- 

 ance in August, when the fruit is ripe and has a rich red or yel- 

 low color. 



It is a small, round-headed tree, eight to fifteen feet high, with 

 crowded, crooked, irregular branches, the older ones rough and 

 58 



