The Japanese Plums. 7 



amongst themselves, but I have been unable to make more than 

 one species out of them ; and the variation is considerably less 

 than in the families or groups of the Domestica plums, which 

 botanists are pretty well agreed have descended from a single 

 specific type. 



This plum is probably native to China. Roxburgh said that 

 the species was introduced in Calcutta from China, and upon this 

 assertion Hemsley admits it to his recent Flora of China, having 

 ' ' only seen specimens cultivated in the Calcutta Botanic 

 Garden." There is no record, so far as I know, of its occurrence 

 in a native state in Japan. Professor Georgeson remarks that its 

 cultivation is old in Japan and that its origin is uncertain ; and 

 Professor Sargent, of Harvard University, who has recently made 

 an exploration of the forests of Japan, was unable to find wild 

 plants. Much of the interior and western portion of China is un- 

 explored botanically, and it is not strange that the aboriginal 

 type of this interesting fruit is yet undiscovered. According to 

 Bretschneider* the plum was anciently cultivated in China, 

 which indicates an indigenous origin. 



Maximowicz, Hemsley and other botanists seem to be confused 

 with the resemblance of Prunus trifiora to P. domestica; and it 

 has also been said by various pomologists that some of the plums 

 recently imported from Japan are only varieties of the Domestica 

 type. While botanical specimens of the two may strongly resem- 

 ble one another, the species are nevertheless readily distinguished, 

 even in winter ; and I have not yet seen a plum of Japanese 

 origin which can be referred to Prunus domestica. In fact, the 

 Domestica plums seem to be little known in Japan. Professor 

 Georgeson, writing upon this point, makes the following state- 

 ments :t " The varieties of this species, which is our common 



of the stamina. Stigma large. Drupe cordate, with an obtuse rising at the 

 apex, the size of the common plum, and of the same purple colour, covered 

 with a similar bloom, grooved on one side." Pulp in large quantity, of a pale 

 reddish yellow. Seed single, conform to the nut. Integument single. 

 Perisperm a thin covering on one side only. Embryo inverse. Cotyledons 

 unequal, the small one doubled, and embraced by the larger, subequitant. " 

 * Bretschneider, On the Study and Value of Chinese Botanical Works, lo, 



45- 

 tAmer. Gard. xii. 75. 



