384 THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 



line; apex pointed; color carmine, bloomless; dots medium in number, small, whitish 

 or sometimes reddish, somewhat conspicuous; stem slender, medium to above in length, 

 glabrous, not adhering to the fruit; skin thick, tough, astringent, adhering slightly; 

 flesh light yellow, juicy, coarse, melting near the skin but firmer and fibrous next the 

 pit, sweet except near the center, strongly aromatic; fair to good; stone often tinged 

 red, adhering, three-quarters inch by three-eighths inch in size, oval, turgid, angular, 

 pointed at the base and apex, roughish; ventral suture wide, blunt, ridged; dorsal 

 suture acute or with an indistinct, shallow groove. 



WYANT 



Pruiius americana 



I. la. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 327. 1885. 2. Ibid. 85. 1890. 3. Cornell Sta. Bui. 38:46. 1892. , 4. 

 la. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 448. 1893. 5. la. Sta. Bui. 31:343. 1895. 6. Kan. Sta. Bui. 73:192. 1897. 

 7. Wis. Sta. Bui. 63:24, 65 fig. 32, 66. 1897. 8. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 24. 1897. 9. Colo. Sta. Bui. 

 50:47. 1898. 10. la. Sta. Bui. 46:292. 1900. 11. Waugh Plum CuU. 167 fig., 168. 1901. 12. 

 Can. Exp. Farm Bui. 43:32. 1903. 13. Ga. Sta. Bui. 67:284, 285 fig. 1904. 14. S. Dak. Sta. 

 Bui. 93:44, 49 fig- 1905- 



Wyant is one of the standard Americana plums, ranking well with 

 the best of them in both fruit and tree-characters. While it is almost 

 beyond question a true Americana (from its history it could hardly be 

 otherwise,) it has a number of characters that mark it as a departure from 

 the usual type of Prunus americana. The calyx-tube is bright red, a char- 

 acter found only in a few other varieties of this species; the stamens are 

 much longer than is usual in the species and much more numerous; the 

 pistils are often defective; the flowers are borne in greater profusion; the 

 plums do not have the distinctive Americana taste; the flesh is less juicy 

 than usual ; the skin is free and the stones are nearly free and have pitted 

 surfaces. Some of these characters are so valuable in a native plum that 

 Wyant may well be used to breed from. The trees from which the descrip- 

 tion here given was made came from C. L. Watrous, Des Moines, Iowa, 

 and to the best of our belief are true to name. 



This variety, according to a letter from J. E. Wyant, Shellsburg, 

 Iowa, was found by J. B. Wyant of Janesville, Iowa, while htinting for 

 wild plums in 1866 on the Cedar River near his home. The following 

 year he transplanted the tree to his yard. About 1874, J. E. Wyant told 

 R. Royce of Shellsburg, Iowa, proprietor of the Benton County Nursery, 

 of this tree. Royce secured cuttings from the original tree and began 

 propagating the plum. Fruits were sent to Professor J. L. Budd, Ames, 

 Iowa, who named it Wyant. The variety was introduced by Mr. Royce 



