WILD RED PLUM (Wild Goose Plum) 

 Prunus americana Marsh. 



April Sweet on tlie air of an April evening is the fra- 



Roadsides, thickets grance of wild plum trees in bloonu The scent 



carries everywhere through the woods and along 

 the roadsides, wafts in great bursts of spring perfume reminiscent of all 

 the Aprils that ever were or shall be. There is the sound of cricket frogs 

 jingling at the edge of the pond; the toads are trilling; the first of the 

 whip-poor-wills is back and the dusk is pulsating with its rapid call. It 

 is an evening in April . . . there is the blur of white where the plum 

 trees are in bloom, the softness of new grass under foot, the breath of 

 soft air in the face, and the ineffable fragrance of wild plum blossoms in 

 the nostrils. It is the complete essence of springtime distilled in that 

 one nostalgic fragrance. 



The wild plums blossom before there are any leaves on the gnarled 

 black twigs. Now the tight clusters of small buds burst into Ijloom after 

 a soft April rain, and the trees are dripj)ing with l)lossoms and perfume 

 and raindrops. A phoebe whirs for a moment to catch an insect among 

 the flowers. Next day when the suii is wami and the breezes blow, tiiere 

 is a soft showering of round white petals to the ground. Day by day the 

 plum blossoms disintegrate until one day the small trees are cov(M('d with 

 leaves and the perfume of April is gone for another year. 



By August there are oval, coral-red, or yellow-red plums on the trees. 

 Few are perfect; most have snuiU white larvae inside, larvae which were 

 deposited as e^g^ in the ovaries of the fiowers long ago in April. The 

 plums fall, are jiecked by robins. The stony seeds are gathered by chip- 

 munks and wood mice and squirrels, who find the nut inside a toothsome 

 morsel on a winters day. 



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