THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK 



CHAPTER I 



EDIBLE PLUMS 



THE GENUS I'RUXUS 



The great genus Prunus includes plums, cherries, almonds, apricots, 

 peaches, and the evergreen cherries or cherry laurels. Its widely distributed 

 species number a hundred or more for the world, nearly all of which belong 

 north of the equator. The species of the genus are widely distributed 

 in both the eastern and western hemispheres, the flora of eastern America 

 and of western Asia being especially rich in species and individuals. For 

 most part the species of Prunus belong to the Temperate Zone, but several 

 of the evergreen cherries, usually grouped in a section under Laurocerasus, 

 are fotmd in the tropics and sub-tropics. 



The species cultivated for their edible fruits are found only in the 

 Temperate Zone of the Northern Hemisphere. Of these the peach and 

 the almond are believed to have come from eastern and southeastern 

 Asia; the apricot is thought to be a native of northern China; the wild 

 forms of the cultivated cherries are Eurasian plants, very generally dis- 

 tributed in the regions to the northward where the two continents meet. 

 The habitats of the cultivated plums are given in detail in the text that 

 follows, as Asia, Europe and America. Presumably the genus had its 

 origin in some of the above regions; but where the center is from which 

 the species radiated can never be known. Indeed, with present knowledge 

 it cannot be said in what region Prunus has most species, is most productive 

 of individuals, or shows highest development and greatest variability, — 

 facts which might give some evidence as to the origin of the genus. It is 

 probable that the greatest number of combinations of the above evidences 

 can be shown for Asia and more especially for the Eurasian region, where 

 Europe and Asia meet; yet North America has two score or more indig- 

 enous species about half of which are arborescent. 



The history of the genus Prunus is one of continual changes. Of the 

 botanists who have done most toward classifying plants, Ray, Toumefort, 

 Dillenius and Boerhaave, pre-Linnaean botanists, placed only the plum 



