Pn/}uis chicasa^ 



THE CHICASAW PLUM-TREE. 



Synonymes. 



Cerasus chkasa, 



Primus chicasa, 



Prunier iles Chicasas, 

 Chii-asa Pllaunicnbaum, 

 Chicasaw Plum-tree, 



Dk CANnoLLE, Prodromus. 



Don, Miller's Dulionary. 



Loudon, Arborctiiin Britannicum. 



PiiRsH, Flora America; !Sej)tenlrionalis. 



ToRRF.Y AND Gray, Flora of North America. 



Audubon, Birds of America. 



France. 



Gi:r,vany. 



Britain and Anglo-America. 



Engravings. Audubon, Birds of America, i., pi. liii ; and Ihc figures below. 



Sperific Characters. Branches glabrous, becoming rather spiny. Leaves oblong-oval, acute, or acuioi- 

 nate. Flowers upon very short peduncles, and mostly in pairs. Calyx glabrous, its lobes very short. 

 Fruit nearly globose, small, yellow. De Candolh, Prodromus. 



Description. 



^S2^^HE Pruniis chic- 



^ h r* '^ ^^'^ ^^ '^ tlioniy 



|i) LI ^ shrub, from three 



^^l^i to six feet in 

 heigh't, indigenous to xVrkansas, western 

 Louisiana, and Texas, and naturalized 

 east of the Mississippi as far north as Vir- 

 ginia. According to Michaux, it was 

 brought to the Atlantic southern states, 

 and cultivated by the Chicasaw Indians; 

 and hence it is commonly called the Chic- 

 asaio plum. It was introduced into Bri- 

 tain in 1S06, and plants of it are growing 

 in many of the European collections. The 

 flowers, which put forth in April and May, 

 are succeeded by a yellow, or yellowish- 

 red fruit, nearly destitute of bloom, of a 

 roundish form, half of an inch or more in 

 diameter, having a thin skin, a tender pulp, and usually of an agreeable flavour , 

 but, like all the species of the genus, it varies in its quality, sometimes being 

 quite astringent and sour. 



Variety. There is at least one variety of this species, the P. c. nemoralis, 

 which may readily be distinguished by its tomentose or pubescent pedicels and 

 leaves, and is conjectured by some, to be the original stock of the naturalized or 

 cultivated tree. The species and variety may be propagated from seeds, by 

 grafting, or inoculation, in a similar manner as the domestic cultivated plum. 

 A tree of this kind is standing in the garden of Rev. E. M. Johnson, of Brook- 

 lyn, in New York, which has attained a height of about twenty feet, with a 

 trunk ten inches in diameter. It is perfectly hardy, and matures fruit every year. 



