THE HORTULANA PLUMS 195 



and firm, shining, smooth, flat, more or less peach- 

 like, ovate-lanceolate or ovate, long-pointed leaves, 

 which are mostly closely and obtusely glandular -ser- 

 rate, and the stalks of which are usually glandular. 

 In the wild state, it appears to follow the Mississippi 

 river from northern Illinois to Arkansas, in its mid- 

 dle region ranging as far east as eastern Kentucky 

 and Tennessee, and possibly to Maryland, and in 

 the southwest spreading over Texas. It is probable 

 that the large red plums of which Humphrey 

 Marshall had heard, over a century ago, as grow- 

 ing upon the Mississippi, and which he called 

 Prunus Mississippi, were of this hortulana group. 

 Marshall's complete description of this plum is as 

 follows: "Prunus Mississippi. Crimson Plumb. This 

 grows naturally upon the Mississippi, and is of 

 larger size than most of the other kinds. The 

 fruit are crimson coloured, and somewhat acid." 

 (Arbustrum Americanum, 112.) 



To this group belong the Wild Goose, Miner, 

 and Way land, and their kin. It had not been 

 recognized and delimited by botanists as distinct 

 from other tribes of plums, and six years ago, 

 when attempting a monograph of the cultivated 

 native plums, I proposed the species Prunus hortu- 

 lana to designate the group. The name hortulana 

 was chosen to record the fact that these interesting 

 plums were first studied by horticulturists rather 

 than by botanists. The varieties are intermediate 

 betweed the Americana and Chickasaw groups. The 

 fruits lack entirely the dull -colored, compressed, 

 thick-skinned and meaty characters of the Ameri- 

 canas, and approach very closely to the Chickasaws. 



