THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 57 



much or little tomentose, at first becoming brownish and later tinged with red; lenticels 

 numerous, large and distinct. 



Winter-buds medium in size, short, acute, appressed, reddish-brown; leaves large, 

 obovate, oblong-obovate, or oval, acuminate at the apex and usually rounded at the 

 base, thin and firm in texture, becoming somewhat coriaceous; margins sharply serrate, 

 almost incised, often doubly serrate, the coarse and double serrations characteristic; 

 teeth not glandular; upper surface more or less roughened, light green, the lower one 

 glabrous or slightly hairy, sometimes pubescent, coarsely veined, the midrib grooved 

 on the upper side; petioles slender, two-thirds inch in length, usually glandless; sti- 

 pules long, sometimes three-lobed, falling early. 



Flowers expanding after the leaves, large, an inch in diameter, borne in lateral 

 umbels, two to five-flowered, mostly on one-year-old wood; pedicels one-half inch 

 long, slender, usually glabrous; calyx-tube obconic, entire, glandular, reddish on the 

 outer, green on the inner surface, glabrous; calyx-lobes acuminate, glabrous on the 

 outer and pubescent on the inner surface, refiexed; petals white, sometimes with bright 

 red at the base, rounded and often lanciniate at the apex, contracted into a long, narrow 

 claw at the base; stamens about thirty in number, as long as the petals; anthers small, 

 yellow; pistils glabrous, slender, as long as the stamens; stigma thick and 

 truncate; anthers and pistils often defective; when in full flower emitting a disagree- 

 able odor. 



Fruit very variable in ripening period; globose, sub-globose, conical, oval, or 

 sometimes oblique-truncate, usually more than an inch in diameter, red or rarely yellow- 

 ish, mostly dull, with or without bloom; dots pale, numerous, more or less conspicuous; 

 cavity shallow or almost lacking; suture a hne; skin thick, tough, usually astringent ; 

 flesh golden-yellow, juicy, meaty, fibrous, sweetish, acid and poor but often good to very 

 good; stone clinging or free, turgid or flattened, the apex pointed, ridged on the 

 ventral and slightly grooved on the dorsal suture, surfaces smooth. 



As Prunus americana is more carefully studied throughout the great 

 territory it inhabits, undoubtedly one or more sub-species will be described. 

 The plums of this species in the Mississippi Valley are distinguished from 

 the eastern and typical form by fruits having a length greater than the 

 diameter, by a somewhat different aspect of tree and by flatter seeds which 

 are usually conspicuously longer than broad. All of the cultivated varie- 

 ties come from the western form. The plant of Prunus americana in the 

 dry plain regions in Kansas and Nebraska becomes shrubby in character 

 while on the alluvial bottom lands along the streams in this region it re- 

 tains the character of a tree. In the southern limit of its range, the leaves 

 of this species are more or less pubescent on the lower surface. As the 

 species occurs throughout western New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, 

 Montana and Manitoba, it differs enough, possibly, from the eastern types 

 to be considered a sub-species, having a wholly different aspect of tree, 



