THE MYROBALAN PLUM 211 



two countries, and is homeless. Sereno Watson, in 

 his "Index to North American Botany," published in 

 1878, refers Ehrhart's Prunus cerasifera to the com- 

 mon beach plum (Prunus maritima) of the Atlantic 

 coast. But the myrobalan is wholly different in every 

 character from the beach plum, and it has been long 

 cultivated upon walls in Europe, a treatment which no 

 one would be likely to give to the little beach plum. 

 Torrey and Gray, in 1838, in the "Flora of North Amer- 

 ica," do not mention the myrobalan plum. After all 

 the exploration of the North American flora, no plant 

 has been found which could have been the original 

 of this plum ; while its early cultivation in Europe, 

 together with the testimony of Clusius and other early 

 herbalists, is strong presumption that it is native to 

 the Old World. This conviction is increased by the 

 doubt which exists in the minds of the leading bota- 

 nists, from Linnaeus down, as to its systematic 

 position, for if there is difficulty in separating it from 

 Prunus domestica, the original of the common plum, 

 and which is itself a native of the Old World and 

 immensely variable, there is strong reason for suspect- 

 ing that it is only an offshoot of that species; and this 

 presumption finds strong support in other direc- 

 tions. One need not study far into the European 

 plums until he convinces himself that the essential 

 features of the myrobalan plum are present in sev- 

 eral of the wild or half -wild forms of southern and 

 southeastern Europe, no matter what the ultimate 

 origin of the fruit may have been. In recent years a 

 purple -leaved variety of this myrobalan plum has 

 come into cultivation from Persia, under the name 

 of Primus Pissardi. I have no doubt, therefore, that 



