1 42 AMYGDALACEAE 



Delaware to Florida and west to Texas and Nebraska. It has 

 been widely cultivated for its fruit. In Illinois, it is reported by 

 numerous collections from the southern half of the state but 

 there is no record of it in northern Illinois elsewhere than at 

 Castle Rock. 



PRUNUS PUMILA Linnaeus 

 Sand Cherry 



The Sand Cherry, fig. 33, is an erect shrub, generally 2 to 

 9 feet high, with characteristically nearly erect leaves, bark 

 resembling that of a cultivated cherry tree, and strongly angled, 

 reddish-brown to gray branches. The branchlets, green and 

 glabrous at first, become reddish brown by the end of the sea- 

 son. The leaves are mostly oblanceolate or spatulate, and us- 

 ually I14 to lYi inches long by 14 to % inch wide, though often 

 larger on vigorous shoots and seedlings. The blade is acute 

 at the apex or, rarely, bluntly rounded, and is long tapered to 

 the petiole at the base. The margins are serrate with short, 

 gland-tipped teeth to somewhat below the middle of the leaf, 

 often farther down on one side than the other, and the surface 

 is smooth above and beneath and much paler beneath. The 

 petioles, which are y% to Ya i^^ch long, generally have 1 or 2 

 glands near the base of the leaf blade. The stipules, which 

 are soon lost, are linear and glandular-serrate. 



The white flowers appear before or with the leaves in late 

 May, generally 2 or 3 together, rarely 4, in sessile umbels. The 

 calyx is glabrous, and the calyx lobes are very short, obtuse, 

 and glandular-serrate on the margins, which usually are rose 

 colored. The obovate or ovate petals are about one-sixteenth 

 inch long. Fruit begins to ripen in late July and is mature 

 shortly after the middle of August. For the most part it is 

 nearly globose and a little over 14 inch in diameter, or it may be 

 somewhat elongated and about 14 inch wide and ^ inch long. 

 When ripe, it is black and not bloom covered, is purplish red, 

 juicy, and tasty. The stone is ovoid to oblong, rounded at one 

 or both ends, or sometimes pointed at both ends, and has a 

 definite, narrow ridge on the back. Its surface is marked with 

 slanting grooves which point outward from the dorsal groove. 



Distribution. — The Sand Cherry prefers sandy situations, 

 where it may grow alone or in association with other shrubs 



