56 THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 



All that is known of the history and habitat of this species is that 

 it came from China in 1867 having been sent to the Paris Museum of 

 Natural History by Eugene Simon, a French consul in China. The spon- 

 taneous form has not as yet been found. The general aspect of the tree 

 is more that of the peach than the plum and the drupes are as much Hke 

 apricots or nectarines as plums but when all characters are considered 

 the fruit can better be classed with the plums than with any of the other 

 stone-fruits named. 



Prunus simonii has been widely grown in America both for its fniits 

 and as an ornamental, but it cannot be said that it has become poptilar 

 for either pixrpose and only one variety of the species is now under culti- 

 vation. As a food prodtxct the plums lack palatability and as ornamentals 

 the trees are subject to too many pests. Prunus simonii has been success- 

 fully hybridized with Primus trifiora and as secondary crosses its blood 

 has been mingled with that of some of the native species as well. Most 

 of its hybrid offspring have more value than the parent, nearly all of them 

 lacking its disagreeable taste. According to an article published in Revue 

 Horticole ' a new form of the Prunus simonii was produced in 1890 from a 

 bud sport, the fruit of which is elongated, a little cordate, slightly unequal, 

 and grooved on one side. So far as can be learned this sport has no very 

 decided merits as a horticultural plant. 



10. PRUNUS AMERICANA Marshall 

 I. Marshall Arb. Am. iii. 17S5. 2. Eaton and Wright .V. Am. Bot. 377. 1840. 3. Torrey 

 and Gray Fl. N. Am. 1:407. 1840 (in part). 4. Torrey Fl. N. Y. 1:194. 1843 (^^ part). 5. Emer- 

 son Trees of Mass. 449. 1S46. 6. Nuttal Silva 2:19. 1846. 7. Darlington Fl. Cest. Ed. 3:72. 

 1853. 8. Torrey Pac. R. Rpt. 4:82. 1854. 9. Curtis Rpt. Geol. Surv. N. C. 36. i860. 10. R 

 way Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 65. 1882. ii. Sargent loth Cen. U. S. 9:65. 1883 (in part). 12. Wat- 

 son and Coulter Gra/jMan. Ed. 6:151. i889(inpart). 13. Coulter Con/. ^.S.A^oi. //eri. 2:102. 1 

 14. Sargent Sitoa AT. Aw. 4:19, PI. ISO. 1892, is.Rydherg Cont. U. S.Nat. Herb. 3:i$6. 1895. 16, 

 Ibid. 3:494. 1896. 17. Waugh Vt. Sta. Bui. 53:59. 1896. 18. Ibid. Vt. Sta. An. Rpt. 10:100 

 1896-7. 19. Chapman Fl. Sou. U. S. 130. 1897. 20. Bailey Ev. Nat. Fr. 182, fig. 1898. 21 

 Waugh Vt.Sta.An. Rpt. 12:231. 1899. 22. Mohr Con/. U. S.Nat. Herb. 6:551. 1901. 23. Bailey 

 Cyc. Am. Hon. 1448 fig. 1901. 24. Rydberg Fl. of Colo. 193. igo6. 



Tree attaining a height of thirty feet, slow but strong in growth, often shrubby; 

 trunk thick, sometimes a foot in diameter, short, bearing the head at three to five feet; 

 bark one-half inch thick, dark grayish-brown, outer surface rough, shaggy with large 

 scales, with age becoming smoother, giving a characteristic aspect; branches spreading, 

 crooked, long, rigid, but often pendulous at the extremities, more or less thorny, with 

 lateral, spinescent branchlets; branchlets light green, usually glabrous, sometimes 



' Carrie re, E. A. Rev. Hart. 152. 1S91. 



