tudes. 



I34 ROSE FAMILY 



15. PRUNUS. Cherry. Plum. 

 Shrubs or small trees with reddish astringent bark, simple 

 leaves, and showy white flowers. Petals 5. Stamens 15 to 

 30. Pistil 1. Fruit globose, without bloom, the pulp covering 

 a bony stone. 



1. P. emarginata Walp. Bitter Cherry. Leaves oblong- 



obovate, obtuse, finely toothed, 24 to 1^4 m - 



C°j^>3^ long, on petioles 34 m - or ^ ess long; blade 



yg^^^^^T) with 1 or 2 glands on the narrowed base. 



Flowers white, 3 to 10 in each lateral cluster. 



Cherry oval, bright red, bitter. 



Many a thicket in the mountains is formed 

 of this shrub, especially where the soil is 

 fairly moist and at more than middle alti- 

 The cherries have a slight tonic effect and are used 

 medicinally by mountaineers, who allow them to stand in 

 whiskey or brandy and then drink the extract. 



2. P. demissa Walp. Western Choke-cherry. Leaves ob- 

 long or broad-elliptic, acute, finely toothed, 1^ 

 to 3 in. long; petiole J4 to ^ in. long, with 1 or 

 2 glands just below its summit. Racemes 2 to 

 4 in. long, each with 20 to 50 white flowers. 

 Cherry dark purple, bitter. 



The Choke-cherry is a graceful shrub, often 

 6 to 15 or even 50 ft. high. The beautiful fruits 

 are very attractive during the summer months 

 but their strongly astringent qualities are not 

 pleasing to the taste. The plant grows in 

 moist places up to 6000 ft. and is often met 

 with in the Yosemite. 



3. P. subcordata Benth. Sierra Plum. Leaves elliptic or 

 almost round, 24 to W2 in. long; petiole about y A in. long. 

 Flowers 2 to 4 in a cluster, white. Fruit a red plum, 24 to 1 

 in. long, either with dry pulp or juicy and edible. 



The stiff, crooked stems of the wild plum are usually 3 to 6 

 ft. high and much branched. The plant, which is seldom seen 

 in bloom, grows in the lower part of Yosemite Valley, in 

 Hetch Hetchy Valley, etc. With us the fruit usually remains 

 small and dry but in the northern Sierra Nevada it becomes 

 large and is gathered in quantity, both for eating fresh and 

 for preserving. The plums are exceptionally fine in Plumas 

 and Modoc counties, where, in addition to the red-fruited 

 form, there is one with yellow fruits. 



