254 PRUNUS 



The sloe is found wild in Britain and other parts of Europe as well as in 

 north Asia. It occurs in hedgerows and in woods, where it is occasionally a 

 tree over 20 ft. high. It is oftenest seen in wild places or poor soils as a 

 scrubby bush. If introduced to the garden or park for ornament, it should be 

 trained up into tree form. The double-flowered variety is neglected but is 

 most attractive, the flowers being crowded on short spiny branches whose 

 blackness enhances their purity. Its slow growth makes it suitable for small 

 gardens. It seems first to have appeared spontaneously at Tarascon. It 

 is propagated by budding on the wild plum, whose suckers, if produced, are 

 more easily detected than those of the wild sloe. The wood of this species 

 is very hard, and prized in rural districts for making hay-rake teeth. 



P. CURDICA, Feiizl, is intermediate between spinosa and insititia, of 

 spreading habit, less thorny ; leaves downy on both sides when young ; flowers 

 white, | in. across ; flower-stalks downy ; fruit blue-black. S. Armenia. 



P. SSIORI, F. Schmidt. 



(Padus Ssiori, C. K. Schneider.') 



Although, according to Sargent, this bird cherry "is a common tree in 

 Yezo, and in the mountain forests of Hondo, Japan, it has only recently been 

 brought into cultivation. The same author (Forest Flora of Japan, \\>. 38) 

 observes that it is always easily distinguished by its pale, nearly white bark. 

 Young shoots smooth. Leaves oblong, often inclined to obovate, the apex 

 drawn out into a long slender point, the base more or less heart-shaped, 

 the margins closely set with fine almost bristle-like teeth ; thin, membranous, 

 smooth above and the same beneath except for the tufts of brownish down in 

 the vein-axils ; stalk slender, I to \\ ins. long, with one or two glands near 

 the blade. Flowers small, white, produced in slender, glabrous cylindrical 

 racemes 4 to 6 ins. long, about I in. wide. The species has been found in 

 Manchuria and Saghalin. " The wood is very hard and close-grained, and is 

 used by the Ainos for numerous domestic purposes " (Sargent). 



P. SUBCORDATA, Bent ham. OREGON PLUM. 



A deciduous tree up to 20 or 25 ft. high in a wild state, but often shrubby 

 and forming thickets ; branchlets reddish. Leaves broadly ovate or broadly 

 oval, usually rounded or sometimes slightly heart-shaped at the base, 2 to 3 ins. 

 long, i to 2 ins. wide ; sharply sometimes doubly toothed, downy at first, 

 becoming nearly or quite smooth ; leaf-stalk | to f in. long, glandular. 

 Flowers white, f in. across, produced in stalkless umbels of two to four 

 blossoms, each on a stalk to ^ in. long. Fruit oblong, dark red or some- 

 times yellow, ^ to i^ ins. long. 



Native of Oregon and California, and although discovered' by Hartweg 

 in 1847, not introduced to Europe until About forty years later.. In its native 

 country its leaves turn a brilliant red before falling. It differs from most other 

 American plums in having the young leaves rolled up from the sides 

 (" convolute " in bud), as are the Old World species, whereas the N.E. American 

 species are " conduplicate " in bud, i.e. the halves of the leaf fold up in bud like 

 a sheet of note-paper. It succeeds at Kew, where there is a tree nearly 20 ft. 

 high. 



P. SUBHIRTELLA, Miquel. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 7508 ; see also p. 243.) 



A small deciduous tree, with twiggy, erect branches, probably 20 to 30 ft. 

 high ; branchlets hairy, especially when young. Leaves i^ to 3 ins. long, 



