24. SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. ROSACER, 
in September and October, is borne on stout stems, and is globose or oblong and two thirds of an inch 
to an inch in diameter, with thick acerb deep red or sometimes yellow skin, and hard and austere thin 
flesh, which adheres to the turgid stone; this is acute and compressed at the two ends, conspicuously 
ridge-margined on the ventral, and broadly and deeply grooved on the dorsal suture, thick-walled, 
rugose, and. deeply pitted. 
Prunus hortulana inhabits the banks of the Mississippi River near Oquawka, Illinois, and St. 
Louis, Missouri ; it is common on the banks of the Maramee River in Missouri, and will probably be 
found wild in southern Illinois and Indiana, in western Kentucky and Tennessee, and ranging through 
Arkansas to eastern Texas. It grows on the low banks of streams in rich moist soil, overflowed every 
winter and spring for several weeks, in forests of the Hackberry, the Honey Locust, the Sycamore, the 
Big-nut Hickory, the Swamp White Oak, the Pin Oak, the Green Ash, the Box Elder, and the Red 
Birch, with the Red Bud, the Silky Cornel, the Pawpaw, dwarf Willows, the Burning Bush, and the 
deciduous-leaved Holly. 
For many years Prunus hortulana was confounded with Prunus angustifolia, the Chickasaw 
' Plum, to which numerous cultivated Plum-trees that have been derived from it have been referred by 
pomologists. Mr. Harry N. Patterson* many years ago noticed its peculiarities, and Prof. L. H. Bailey? 
has recently pointed out its true characters. 
The fruit of the wild trees is gathered in large quantities, and for years has been sold in the 
markets of St. Louis, and used for jellies and preserves; selected varieties sometimes produce excellent 
fruit, and have been largely cultivated, in the western states especially, for many years.° 
1 Harry Norton Patterson was born in 1853 in Oquawka, Illinois, 
where he was educated, and where from early youth he has been 
employed in printing. An early acquired love of botany led him 
to study the flora of the neighborhood of his native place, and has 
since carried him on several occasions to Colorado, where he has 
botanized extensively during four summers, and has made several 
interesting botanical discoveries. Mr. Patterson is the author of 
A List of Plants collected in the Vicinity of Oquawka, published in 
1874, A Catalogue of the Plants of Illinois, published in 1876, and 
a Check List of North American Plants. 
2 Liberty Hyde Bailey was born in South Haven, Michigan, in 
1858, graduated at the Agricultural College of his native state 
in 1882, and then, having studied botany with Professor Asa Gray 
at Cambridge during two years, was appointed in 1888 professor 
of horticul pe gi g in the Michigan Agricul- 
tural College. This position he soon left to accept the chair of 
q 
and 1 
horticulture in Cornell University, which he still fills. Professor 
Bailey is the author of two important papers on North American 
Carices, three annual volumes of the Annals of Horticulture in North 
America, The Horticulturist’s Rule Book, The Nursery Book, and 
Field Notes on Apple Culture, and of many horticultural and botan- 
ical articles. He has devoted special attention to the study of 
American fruit-trees, and our present knowledge of the history 
and. distinctive characters of the various races of cultivated Ameri- 
can Plum-trees is due to his long and careful study of this difficult 
and interesting subject. 
8 The first variety of this species which attracted attention, the 
now well-known Wild Goose Plum, believed to have been a native 
of Kentucky, where it originated about forty years ago, is now a 
valuable fruit-tree in some parts of the country ; it is esteemed for 
its rapid growth and the excellence of its large juicy fruit, and is 
more largely cultivated than any other native Plum. Other varie- 
ties of Prunus hortulana well known to pomologists are Cumber- 
land, Indian Chief, Garfield, Sucker City, Missouri Apricot (Honey 
Drop), Wayland, Indiana Red, Golden Beauty, Indiana Chief, Forest 
Rose, Parsons, and Miner (L. H. Bailey, Bull. Cornell Univ. Agric. 
Exper. Stat. No. 38). 
A sterile tree, known as the Blackman Plum, believed to be a 
natural hybrid between the Peach and the Wild Goose Plum, ap- 
peared in Tennessee many years ago (Rep. U. S. Dept. Agric. 1886, 
261 ; 1887, 636) ; and Professor Bailey reports another hybrid of 
similar origin, 
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE. 
Prats CLI. Prunus nortunana. 
1. A flowering branch, natural size. 
2. Vertical section of a flower, enlarged. 
3. Interior face of a calyx-lobe, enlarged. 
4. A petal, enlarged. 
5. A fruiting branch, natural size. 
6. A fruit cut transversely, natural size. 
7, 8, and 9. Stones, natural size. 
10. A seed, natural size. 
11. An embryo, natural size. 
12. A sterile branch, natural size. 
13. A winter branchlet, natural size. 
