THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 89 



broadly crenulate-serrulate, tapering upward without division; teeth crowned with small, 

 soot-colored, mucronate glands; upper surface clear green, glabrous; lower surface paler, 

 villous along both sides of the lower ribs and the rest glabrous; veins on both sides twel\-e 

 to sixteen, the veinlets somewhat raised on the under side. 



The pedicels of the single or twinned fruits two-sixteenths to three-sixteenths of an 

 inch long, very thick, glabrous; drupes somewhat dry, sub-globose, one and one-eighth 

 inches long, one inch in diameter, densely tomentose, edible; stone ovate, somewhat com- 

 pressed, dimensions three-fourths by one-half by three-eighths inches; dorsal suture keeled, 

 the ventral surface covered with narrow ridges, the ridges at the base of the keel nearly 

 disappearing, the rest inconspicuous. 



Primus inira is a nev^^ peach discovered in China by Mr. E. H. Wilson 

 of the Arnold Arboretum. The foregoing technical description is a trans- 

 lation from the original description by Koehne. Mr. Wilson describes 

 for The Peaches of New York the outstanding botanical and horticultural 

 characters of Primus mira as follows: 



" Prunus mira is a small bushy tree, growing about 6m. tall, with a 

 trunk about im. in girth and a crown some 8m. through. The branches 

 are relatively slender and the branchlets twiggy, and these, together with 

 the narrow, lance-shaped, long-pointed leaves, give the plant a very distinct 

 appearance. The fruit is roundish oval, about 4.5 cm. high and 3.5-4 cm. 

 broad, downy on the outside, with white flesh and a free stone. The flavor 

 is the same as that of fruits from the semi-wild plants of the Common Peach 

 {P. Persica). The stone is 2 to 2.2 cm. high and 1.3-1.4 cm. broad, and 

 in shape is flattened ovoid and pointed. The flowers are unknown 

 to me. 



" This plant grows wild on rather barren mountain slopes at about 

 3000m. altitude north of the town of Tachienlu on the China-Thibetan 

 borderland, where it was first detected by me on July 9, 1908, and from 

 whence I introduced it by means of seeds in the autumn of 19 10. I saw 

 only a few trees, but have reason to believe that it is fairly common, and 

 also that it is thereabouts cultivated for its fruit. In the Arnold Arboretum 

 this species has proved no more hardy than the Common Peach, though 

 from the altitude at which it grows naturally it ought to be the hardier 

 plant. Our largest specimen is 2.5m. high and crown 3m. through. It 

 starts into growth and leafs out much later than the Common Peach, and 

 is therefore much less liable to be affected by late frosts. This is the one 

 advantage so far evident in our experience with this new Peach under 

 cultivation. Undoubtedly it possesses important horticultural possi- 

 bilities, and especially should it be valuable to the hybridist on account of 

 its small and smooth stone. Indeed, it requires no imagination to realize 

 the advantage to be gained by supplanting in our present day race of 



