THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK 35 



midrib and veins; midrib small, straight; veins very minute; margin serrate, teeth tipped 

 with very small glands; petiole short, one-fourth inch in length, glandless. 



Flowers small, in two- to five-flowered umbels, white, appearing with the leaves; pedi- 

 cels slender, a half-inch in length. Fruit nearly round, pendulous, variable in color but 

 usually purple-black, without bloom, nearly a half -inch in diameter; flesh thin, variable 

 in quality but often sour and astringent; season late July; stone turgid, nearly round. 



Prunus piimila, the Sand Cherry, or Dwarf Cherry, of eastern America, 

 is found on sandy and rocky, inland shores from Maine to the District of 

 Columbia and northwestward to the Lake of the Woods in Canada. In 

 particular it is common on the sand dunes of the Great Lakes. Every- 

 where in the wild state it grows in light sands suggesting its use in arid 

 soils and especially on poor soils in cold climates. 



As yet there seem to be no named varieties of this cherry known to 

 fruit-growers, its nearly related species, Prunus besseyi, offering greater 

 opportunities to both the fruit-grower and the experimenter. Both the 

 plants and fruits are so variable, the size, color and quality of the crop 

 on some plants being quite attractive, that it is certain an opportunity 

 to domesticate a worthy native plant is being overlooked. The species 

 ought to have value, too, as a stock on which to work other cherries for 

 sandy soils, dwarf trees and exacting climates. 



PRUNUS CUNEATA Rafinesque. 



I. Rafinesque i4nn. Nat. 11. 1820. 2. Bailey Cor. Ex. Sta. Bui. 38:101. 1892. 3. Britton and' 

 Brown ///. Flora 2:250. 1897. 4. Gray Man. Bot. ed. 7:498. X908. 

 P. pumila cuneala. 5. Bailey Cyc. Am. Hort. 3:1451. 1901. 



Prunus cuneata, sometimes called the Appalachian cherry, is not 

 growing at this Station but is described in the references given as very 

 similar to the Sand Cherry, differing in the following respects: 



The plant is dwarf er but is more erect never having prostrate branches ; 

 the branches are smoother and lighter colored; the leaves are shorter, more 

 oval, more obtuse, thinner, less conspicuously veined, teeth fewer and 

 the points more appressed; the flowers are larger, petals broader and are 

 borne on slightly curled stems in umbels of two to four; the fruit and 

 stone in the two species are much the same, possibly averaging smaller 

 in this species. 



The habitat of Prunus cuneata is from Maine to North Carolina and 

 northwest to Minnesota, being most commonly found in wet, stiff soils 

 near lakes and bogs but often found on rocky hills if the soil be not too dry. 



