206 THE EVOLUTION OP OUR NATIVE FRUITS 



northward. Moreman is the commonest variety of the group 

 in the northern states, but is not well known in the South, and 

 is not quite so good an exponent of the characters which mark 

 this group. After considerable deliberation, I think that Way- 

 land is the best and most convenient group name for these 

 varieties. 



Of course, this group is not free from puzzling forms which 

 show equivocal characters, apparently borrowed from the Chicka- 

 saws, Ainericanas, and other groups ; but on the whole, it is 

 much better marked than the Miner or Wild Goose sections, 

 which have for several years been thought worthy of recog- 

 nition. The varieties are characterized by straight, slender, 

 dark-colored twigs ; very large, luxuriant foliage, broad leaves, 

 which are often pubescent on the larger veins beneath, and 

 which have from two to six glands on the petioles ; axillary 

 buds often triple ; blossoms and fruit very late, mostly after 

 Miner ; fruit spherical, or nearly so, red or yellow, with many 

 small dots, thin-skinned and of fine quality. 



Several varieties of this group are already widely distributed 

 in cultivation. Others of considerable promise have been 

 recently introduced. Those which I have had the opportunity 

 to examine, and which seem to belong with Wayland, rather 

 than in any other group, are Columbia, Crimson Beauty, Cum- 

 berland, Garfield, Golden Beauty, Kanawha, Leptune, Missouri 

 Apricot, Moreman, Nimon, Reed, Sucker State, Wayland and 

 Worldbeater. Mr. T. V. Munson, in correspondence, mentions 

 another variety, Erby's September, growing in his grounds, 

 which apparently belongs with those named here. 



Of these varieties, Cumberland, Golden Beauty, Kanawha, 

 Leptune, Reed and Wayland best show the distinctive foliage 

 and tree characters which separate them from adjoining types. 

 These are all good plums from the planter's standpoint. All 

 of them are very ornamental. Reed is one of the most beauti- 

 ful trees of its size I ever saw. 



These varieties have usually been put in the Wild Goose 

 class, though Bailey, who has done most of the work in the 

 classification of native plums, puts Leptune, one of the best 

 marked varieties, into the Miner group, and President Berck- 

 mans, who introduced Kanawha, says "this is beyond question 



