26 SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. ROSACER. 
appears like an escape from cultivation rather than an indigenous plant ; and its origin and true home 
are still uncertain.’ 
The wood of Prunus angustifolia is heavy, although rather soft and not strong; it is ight brown 
or red, with lighter colored sapwood and many thin medullary rays. The specific gravity of the abso- 
lutely dry wood is 0.6884, a cubic foot weighing 42.90 pounds. 
The fruit, which varies greatly in quality, like that of all Plum-trees, is often sold in the markets of 
the middle and southern states, and it is eaten raw and cooked, and used for jellies and preserves.’ 
William Strachey, who accompanied Admiral Sir George Somers to Jamestown, Virginia, where 
he landed in May, 1610, and afterward published an account of the colony, is probably the first author 
to mention the Chickasaw Plum,’ which was not described by any botanist until a hundred and seventy- 
five years later, in 1785, when it was included in the Arbustum Americanum by Humphrey Marshall.* 
1 The Chickasaw Plum has been occasionally cultivated a little 
to the north of the region in which it has become naturalized, but 
it has not been able to secure a foothold beyond the northern limits 
of this region, which is coextensive with that occupied by the Taxo- 
dium and several other southern trees. This fact seems to indicate 
a southern origin, as a plant of such peculiarly domestic habits, able 
to follow man everywhere in the south, and to hold its own against 
the native inhabitants of the soil, would have spread through the 
The shrubby 
Plum of the high plateau east of the Rocky Mountains, which trav- 
north if it had come originally from a cold region. 
elers have believed to be the original of the Chickasaw Plum, is 
probably distinct from this species, and it is not improbable that its 
natural home must be looked for south of the boundary of the 
United States. The fact that when the country was first visited 
by Europeans the Chickasaw Plum was always found in the neigh- 
porhood of Indian settlements in the south, seems to confirm the 
early Indian tradition that the tree had been brought by their an- 
cestors from the region beyond the Mississippi River. It is inter- 
esting to note that the elder Michaux, who resided for several years 
in South Carolina toward the end of the last century, was told 
there that the Chickasaw Plum had been brought from the West 
Indies (Fl. Bor.-Am. i. 285). 
2 The fruit of Prunus angustifolia is sold in early summer in the 
markets of some of the cities of the middle states, under the name 
selected for the 
excellence of their fruit, are cultivated in the southern states. Of 
of “Mountain Cherry.” Varieties of this tree, 
these, the best known to pomologists are Pottawattamie, Jennie 
Lucas, Early Red, Caddo Chief, Transparent, and Colleta, although 
many others are in cultivation. 
8 “ They have cherries, much like a Damoizin, but for their taste 
and cullour we called them cherries ; and a plomb there is, som- 
what fairer then a cherrie, of the same relish, then which are sel- 
dome a better eaten.” (Historie of Travaile into Virginia Britannia, 
ed. Major, 118.) 
4 According to Loudon, Prunus angustifolia was d into 
European gardens in 1806 (Arb. Brit. ii. 705). In eastern New 
England it is barely hardy, seldom flowering and never producing 
ro [al 
fruit. 
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE. 
Prats CLIL Prunus ANGUSTIFOLIA. 
SAAR wre 
. A flowering branch, natural size. 
. Vertical section of a flower, enlarged. 
. A fruiting branch, natural size. 
. Vertical section of a fruit, natural size. 
A stone, cut transversely, natural size. 
An embryo, natural size. 
The end of a young leafy shoot, natural size. 
A winter branchlet, natural size. 
