Genus PRUNUS, Tourn. 
Rosaceae. 
Syst. Nat. 
Synonymes. 
Frunus, Cerasus. Chamasterasus, 
Icosandria Monogynia. 
Syst. Lin. 
Of Authors. 
Derivation. The name Primus is said to have been of oriental origin, the wild plant, according to Galen, being called 
proumnos in Asia. The Greek name of the plum, as mentioned by Theophrastus, is proune ; whence the Latin, Primus. 
Generic Characters. Drupe ovate or oblong, fleshy, quite smooth, covered with a pruinose powder. Pu- 
tamen (stone) compressed, acute on both sides, somewhat furrowed at the edges, otherwise smooth. 
Young leaves convolute. Pedicels umbellate-fasciculate, one-flowered, evolved before or after the 
leaves. De Candolle, Prodromus. 
[HE species belonging to this genus are mostly deciduous, low trees 
or shrubs, bearing edible fruit, natives of Europe, Asia, and North 
America. Many of them are spiny in the wild state, and all have 
showy flowers. The epidermis of the bark of the plum, as well 
as that of the birch and cherry, is readily divisible transversely, 
and may frequently be seen divided, in this manner, into rings on 
the tree. There are upwards of thirty species enumerated in catalogues ; but it 
is a question whether one-half of them are not mere varieties. To this genus, 
formerly belonged the Apricot, {A?-meniaca vulgaris, of Tonrnefort, De Candolle, 
Loudon, and others,) and for the convenience of classification, we have retained 
the Linnsean name. This tree is in general cultivation throughout the temperate 
regions of the globe, and is distinguished, at first sight, from the almond, peach, 
and nectarine, by its heart-shaped, smooth, shining leaves, and white flowers. 
There are several wild varieties, bearing flowers of different shades of pink, and 
are chiefly cultivated for ornament. The great beauty of both the wild and the 
cultivated sorts of the apricot is, that in high latitudes, they generally come into 
bloom before most other trees. < The most noted species of this genus proper, are 
the domestic cultivated plum (Primus domestica) ; the sloe, or black thorn, of 
Europe (Primus spinosa) ; the engrafted, or bullace plum (Primus insititia) ; 
the beach-plum (Primus maritima) ; and the moose or American wild plum 
(Primus americana.) The latter is said to be the only species indigenous to 
North America which has a flat stone, groved on both margins. The other spe- 
cies native of this country, are somewhat intermediate in their fruit, between the 
cherry and the plum, the stone being slightly compressed, and the glaucous bloom 
wanting, except in the Primus maritima ; yet they are evidently Plums and not 
Cherries, in the opinion of Torrey and Gray, and cannot with propriety be sepa- 
rated from this genus. The beach-plum abounds along the sandy sea-coast of 
the United States, from Maine to Alabama. The moose-plum occurs on the 
banks of streams and other waters, in hedges, and on prairies, from Canada to 
Texas, and is often cultivated with success. Both of these species are said to 
escape the attacks of the curculio, as no warts or excrescences are found upon 
them, even when growing in the immediate vicinity of infested foreign trees. 
Hence it has been suggested that they might be propagated to advantage from 
the stone, for the purpose of grafting or budding other fruits upon. 
