WILD BLACK CHERRY; RUM CHERRY (Prunus serotina, 

 Ehrh.). 50 to 100 feet; trunk 4 to 5 feet. Large tree with 

 narrow, oblong head of small, horizontal branches. Bark 

 aromatic, bitter, yielding hydrocyanic acid, used in medicine. 

 Fissures shallow, checking into broad plates from which the 

 dark red-brown, satiny, surface bark curls back. Slits hor- 

 izontal, prominent on bark of limbs. Wood hard, close, 

 straight-grained, reddish brown, used in cabinetwork and 

 interior finish of houses. Leaves oval or oblong, tapering to 

 both ends, wavy-margined, and fine-toothed, thin, lustrous, 

 dark green, bitter-aromatic when crushed, 2 to 5 inches long, 

 on slender petioles. Yellow in autumn. Flowers white, in 

 long, close-flowered racemes, small, distinct. Fruit pea- 

 sized berries, flattened, purplish, dark, juicy, sweetish, bitter- 

 aromatic, with thick skins, used to flavor alcoholic liquors. 

 Dist.: Nova Scotia to Florida; west through Canadian prov- 

 inces to north shore of Lake Superior, Dakota, Nebraska, 

 Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Val- 

 uable lumber and shade troe 



