The Cultivated Kative Plums and Chekries. 59 



Flor. Bor.-Am. i. 284.]). Tliis group of plums differs from the 

 Wild Groose group (B) by a more slender, spreading and zig- 

 zag groiwth, usually smaller si^^e of tree, red twigs, by smaller, 

 lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate very closely serrate shining leaves 

 which, ai'e conduplicate or trough-like in habit, by early small 

 flowers which, upon old wood, are densely clustered on the spurs, 

 and by an early red (rarely yellow) and more or less spotted 

 translucent fruit, the flesh of which is soft, juicy, and more or 

 less stringy and very tightly adkerent to the small, broad, rough- 

 ish stone. It is difficult to separate some of the cultivated f oims of 

 this species from small-leaved and weak-growing varieties of 

 Prunus hortulana, but the two species are easily separated in a 

 wild state. The zigzag young twigs and aoagh-like leaves of 

 the Chickasaw s are characteristic, and are ^shown in Pig. 6. The 

 leaves are often veiy small, scarcely exceeding an inch in lengtli, 

 but upon the more vigorous cultivated varieties, as ihe JS^ewmiin, 

 the leaf-blades are often three inches long and nearly flat. In 

 herbarium specimens the species is usually recognized by the two 

 halves of the leaves being pressed together so that ihe upper 

 surface is hidden. In a wild state the trees or bushes are thorny, 

 and the thorns persist in some of the cultivated vadeties. It 

 grows wild, often in dense thickets, from southern Delaware to 

 Florida, and westward to Kansas and Texas. iL is comiiii.»nly 

 stated in the books that the Chickasaw plum is not nativ*,' to the 

 Atlantic States, and some suppose that it was introduced into 

 the United States from countries to the south of ua. I have been 

 unable to find sufficient reasons for these opinions, and I believe 

 that the species is native to the southeastern States. In Mary- 

 land, as I have seen it, it behaves like an indlgeuious plant, and 

 the people regard it as a true native. The small acerb fruit of 

 the thorny and scraggly wild bushes is known in Maryland as 

 "Mountain Cherry." 



This species, like Prunus Americana, was founded by Hum- 

 phrey Marshall in 1785. His description is .is follows: *'l*runus 

 angustifolia. Chicasaw plumb. This is scarcely of so large a 

 growth as the former [P. Americana], but rising with a stiff, 



