A STUDY IX PLANT \ARIATION 



257 



Fruit 



Form 



Bark 



Lenticels 



Buds 



Leaf Scar 



Ripening August 15 to September 5, of a reddish purple 

 color, spherical to slightly oval 17 x 16 mm. covered with 

 a light waxen bloom, flecked with numerous light colored 

 spots; weight 3.25 to 3.6 grams; flesh of a watery greenish 

 yellow color, pulp decidedly free from the stone, sweet 

 and pleasant, tannin layer deposited beneath the skin; 

 stone oval and compressed, reddish in color, 13.5 x 10.0 

 mm. and 6.5 mm. thick, weight .40 to .50 grams, acutely 

 ridged on the ventral, slightly grooved on the dorsal suture. 



5. Primus maritima Var. purpurea parva 

 (Small Purple) 

 A low spreading bush 3 to 6 feet high forming dense thicket 

 like patches; branching rather regular, erect, with numerous 

 spinescent lateral branches. General appearance less 

 gnarled and stunted. 



Old stem rather stout, rough, cracked into thin dark gray 

 plates which tend to persist, mostly lichen covered. Young 

 branches smooth, dark purphsh brown, numerous light 

 gray lenticels and numerous spine-like lateral branches. 

 Youngest twigs smooth, numerous, elongate and rather 

 stout, puberulous, epidermis silvery gray and when shed 

 uncovers a light reddish brown bark. 



Numerous, large, very conspicuous, irregularly distributed 

 over the branches, rounded and more elevated on the 

 youngest twigs, while darker and more flattened on the 

 young branches. 



Alternate, conical shaped, sharp pointed, brown or gray, 

 covered with numerous triangular scales, puberulous along 

 the margins; covered with a silvery gray waxy coating 

 which is shed in early spring. 



Flower buds more precocious in early spring, chestnut 

 brown, rather abundantly scattered along the twigs, 

 frequently compounded with a single leaf bud near the 

 end of the twigs. 



Leaf buds smaller, more pointed, dark gray and terminal, 

 bursting after the bush is in full bloom. 



Crescent shaped, with three small inconspicuous fibro- 

 vascular bundle scars. 



