THE PLUM IN KANSAS. 43 



oblong- lanceolate leaves, which are very closely and finely serrate, shining, and 

 trough-like; fruit small, very early, red or rarely yellow, the skin thin and shin- 

 ing and covered with many small, light dots and a very thin bloom; the flesh soft 

 and juicy, often stringy, closely clinging to the small, broad, roughish stone. 

 Wild from Delaware south and west to east Kansas and Texas. 



P. alleghaniensis Porter. Sloe. A small, slender tree or shrub 3-15 feet 

 high; leaves lanceolate or oblong-ovate, often long acuminate, finely and sharjjly 

 serrate, softly pubescent when young; fruit dark purple, with a bloom. Alle- 

 ghany mountains, in Pennsylvania. 



P. fiuhcordaia Benth. A small tree 20-25 feet high; leaves broadly ovate or 

 orbicular, usually cordate, sharply and often doubly serrate, slightly coriaceous, 

 dark green on the upper and pale on the lower surface; flowers in 2-4-flowered 

 umbels on slender pedicels; calyx lobes oblong-obovate, rounded at the apex, half 

 as long as the white petals; fruit oblong, dark red or purple or sometimes yellow. 

 Pacific coast species. 



P. umhellata Ell. Black Sloe; Hog Plum. A small, bushy tree; flowers 

 on slender pedicels nearly an inch long, rather large, white ; leaves smallish, ovate 

 or slightly obovate, or sometimes short oblong, thin and dull, closely and evenly 

 serrate; fruit about three-fourths inch in diameter, yellow or reddish, flesh 

 firm and austere; stone short and turgid, cherry-like. Seashore from South 

 Carolina to Florida, and westward to Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas. 



NATIVE SPECIES. (SHRUBS.) 



P. ^t;«!!.sow^■ Sargent. Sand Plum. A shrub 6-10 feet high; leaves ovate, 

 acute, rounded or wedge-shaped at the base, finely crenulate, serrate, lustrous 

 on the upper and pale on the lower surface ; petioles slender, grooved, biglandular 

 at the apex; flowers in crowded, few-flowered fascicles; calyx cup-shaped, the 

 lobes acute, rounded at the apex, without glands, ciliate on the margins, pubes- 

 cent on the inner face ; petals inserted remotely on the glandular disk, narrowly 

 obovate, rounded and more or less erose above, contracted below into short claws, 

 pure white; fruit globose or rarely oblong, orange-red. Sandy streams and hills, 

 south and southeast Nebraska and central and western Kansas. 



P. gracilis Engelm. & Gray. A small shrub, 1-4 feet high ; soft pubescent 

 leaves, oblong-lanceolate to ovate, acute, sharply serrate, becoming nearly gla- 

 brous above, 1-2 inches long; pedicels and calyx pubescent; fruit less than one- 

 half inch in diameter; stone rather turgid, suborbicular. Prairies and sandy 

 places, south Kansas to Texas and Tennessee. 



P. maritima Wang. Beach Plum. Low straggling shrub, 1-5 feet high: 

 leaves ovate or oval, finely serrate, softly pubescent underneath; pedicels short, 

 pubescent; fruit globular, purple or crimson, with a bloom, one-half inch in dia- 

 meter; stone very turgid, acute on one edge. Sea beaches, New Brunswick to 

 Virginia. Some distance from the coast has leaves smoother and thinner, and 

 fruit smaller. 



Remarks vpon Botanical Orovps. 



European {domestica] Group. The cultivated varieties of the European 

 plum bear the best and most salable fruit. They are generally hardy in most sec- 

 tions of Vermont, though most of the 1896 crop was killed by the severe winter 

 weather. The pistils in varieties of this species are uniformly larger and stronger 

 than in other species, and are practically never defective. These varieties are 

 usually deficient pollen bearers, but their need of cross-pollination has not yet 

 been clearly shown, nor their best pollenizers pointed out. Pistils and anthers 



