CHAP. III.] AMYGDALEiE. 63 



stamens are inserted as shown at h. The 

 ovary has a thick style and capitate stigma (c), 



Fig. 25. — Flowers and fruit of the Sloe. 



and the fruit is a drupe {d). In these particulars 

 therefore the plum agrees with the preceding 

 genera ; but it will be found to differ in the 

 skin of the pericarp, which is quite smooth and 

 covered with a fine bloom ; this, indeed, and its 

 stone being pointed at both ends constitute the 

 chief botanical distinctions between the fruit of 

 the plum and that of the apricot, as in other 

 respects they are alike. Both the plum and the 

 apricot have footstalks, and in this differ from the 

 peach and the nectarine, which are without. 

 The leaves of the plum differ from those of the 

 other genera in being convolute, that is, rolled 

 up, in the bud. 



