THE DRUPE-FRUITS 151 



or spine-like branchlets. Leaves folded upward, oblong;laiiceolate, pointed 

 at both ends, thin, membranaceous; margins closely and finely serrate; teeth 

 tipped with glands; 2/3 inch wide and 1-2 inches long; petioles ^2 inch 

 long, slender, bright red with two red glands near or on the base of the leaf. 

 Flowers small, less than % inch across, umbels subsessile, 2- to 4-floAvered. 

 Fruit ripening early; ovoid, % inch in diameter, bright red, sometimes 

 yellow, glossy, with little or no bloom ; dots numerous, very conspicuous ; 

 skin thin; flesh tender, juicy, yellow, subacid; stone small, clinging, ovoid, 

 turgid, roughened, cherry-like, edges rounded, the dorsal one grooved, 



219. The Sand plum. — Pnmus angtistifolia Watso7ii, Waugh, 

 the Sand plum, is an inhabitant of southern and southeastern 

 Nebraska, central and western Kansas, and possibly passes into 

 western Oklahoma. The wild plums are held in high esteem 

 for dessert and culinary purposes, and are occasionally trans- 

 planted to the garden or orchard. From such transplantings a 

 half dozen varieties have arisen. The productiveness, hardiness 

 to heat and cold, and the size and quality of the fruits attract 

 plum-growers in the region of its habitat and experimenters else- 

 where as well. The Sand plum differs from Angustifolia in its 

 dw^arfer habit; shorter- jointed, zigzag, ashy-gray branches; 

 smaller but thicker leaves; large, thicker-skinned, and better- 

 flavored fruit, which ripens later; and in a smaller and some- 

 w^hat differently marked stone w^hich does not cling as tightly 

 as in the species. 



220. The Variable plum. — Pnmus angustifolia vanans, 

 Wight and Hedrick, in the wild forms dense thickets, the larger 

 specimens attaining a height of ten or twelve feet. When 

 grown in the orchard, the plant is a small tree wdth spreading 

 branches, sometimes armed with slender spinescent branchlets. 

 The sub-species is distinguished from the species by more robust 

 habit; the young twigs less reddish; by pediceled flowers; and 

 by the stone in most cases being more pointed at the apex. 

 It occurs locally from southern Oklahoma through eastern Texas 

 southward to the Colorado River, and westward to the Pan- 

 handle region. The fruit is superior to that of the species. 

 Hybrids between this form and P. Munsoniana occur freely 

 both in the wild state and under cultivation. The varieties 

 Eagle and El Paso have probably originated in this way. 

 Nearly all of the plums belonging to this species, some twenty 

 in all, are tender to cold, and none succeeds in the North. 



