2832 



PRUNUS 



PRUNUS 



outside, the sepals and petals usually 10: fr. spherical; 

 stone hard, bony and more rugose. Probably China. 



28. orientalis, Koehne (Amygdalus orientdlis, Mill. 

 A. argentea, Lam.). ORIENTAL ALMOND. Shrub, 3-10 

 ft. high, with woolly twigs: Ivs. small (^-1J^ in. long), 

 nearly or quite sessile (petiole less than |^in. long), 

 oval, oblong or narrow-obovate, nearly obtuse or short- 



3227. Dwarf almonds. Prunus nana at left; P. glandulosa in 

 middle; P. triloba at right in the lobed form that sometimes 

 occurs on spring or strong shoots. ( X about };>) 



pointed, entire or obscurely serrulate: fls. solitary, nearly 

 1 in. across, light rose-color, with or just preceding the 

 Ivs.: fr. ovate or oblong, more or less pointed, thinly 

 pubescent but becoming glabrous. Asia Minor, Syria. 

 L.B.C. 12:1137. Variable; several species-names of 

 the same general geographical region are probably to 

 be referred to it, or they may represent very closely 

 related species. 



29. nana, Stokes (Amygdalus nana, Linn.). RUSSIAN 

 ALMOND. Fig. 3227. Bush, 3-5 ft. high: Ivs. narrowly 

 elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, 2 or 3 in. long, thick and 

 rather stiff, scarcely pointed, lighter colored and the 

 veins prominent beneath, smooth, the edges set with 

 sharp spreading saw-like teeth: fls. usually solitary, 

 rose-color or white, nearly 1 in. or less across, sessile, 

 with or just preceding the Ivs.: fr. small and hard, 

 pubescent, bitter, with a large wrinkled sharp-pointed 

 somewhat cordate, unequal-sided pit. Russia and W. 

 Asia. B.M. 161. L.B.C. 12:1114. This plant has 

 been intrp. into this country recently as a fr.-plant, 

 although it possesses little merit for that purpose. It is 

 cult, in Eu. for its fls. and it has been thought that the 

 flowering almond of our gardens belongs to it; but our 

 flowering almonds are P. triloba and also in part P. 

 glandulosa and P. japonica. This Russian almond is 

 very hardy, enduring the climate of the northern 

 Prairie states, where it ripens its little almond-like frs. 

 in July. A small-fruited form of the apricot (P. 

 Armeniaca) has been intro. as Russian almond. Prunus 

 nana is cult, in 2 or 3 forms. Var. campestris, Hort., 

 has white fls. of larger size. Var. ge6rgica, DC., has 

 dark rose-colored somewhat smaller fls. and narrower, 

 longer lys. Var. cochin-chinensis, Hort., is a larger 

 plant with white fls. Var. rilbra, Hort., has red fls. 

 over Hin. across. G.C. III. 52: suppl. Nov. 23 (1912). 

 For another use of the name P. nana (for the choke 

 cherry), see No. 72. 



30. Sweginzdwii, Koehne. Small glabrous shrub 

 very like P. nana, distinguished by large and If.-like 

 stipules and unequal very sharp double teeth of the 

 Ivs.: fls. deep rose-colored; calyx tubular, nearly J^in. 

 long, the lobes oblong and glandular-fimbriate; petals 

 oblong-obovate with cuneate base, nearly ^in. long. 

 Turkestan. 



31. Fenzliana, Fritsch. Much like P. communis, but 

 lower and more bushy and thorny: Ivs. smaller, gray- 

 green or bluish green: fls. more nearly white: fr. more 

 peachlike in form, being not so pointed or elongated as 

 in P. communis, but scarcely fleshy; stone shorter and 

 more nearly orbicular in outline. Caucasus. Said to 

 be a very showy early-blooming species. 



AA. Plant a tree or tree-like. 

 B. Fr. hard, splitting at maturity. 



32. comm&nis, Fritsch (Amygdalus communis. Linn. 

 Prunus Amygdalus, Stokes). ALMOND. Figs. 161-163, 

 Vol. I. Peach-like tree, 10-25 ft. tall, with gray bark: 

 Ivs. lanceolate, firm and shining, very closely serrate: 

 fls. large (1 in. and more across), solitary and appear- 

 ing before the Ivs., pink, showy: fr. a large compressed 

 drupe with hard flesh, splitting open at maturity 

 and liberating the pitted stone (or almond). Asia. Gn. 

 50:312 and, G. 29:291 (var. macrocarpa) ; Gn. 54:122. 

 Grown as an ornamental tree, but chiefly for the nuts 

 (pits or stqnes of the fr.). There are double-fld., white- 

 fld., and variegated-lvd. forms, also dwarf and weeping 

 forms, under such names as .albo-plena, roseo-plena, 

 purpurea, compacta, variegata, pendula. The forms may 

 be ranged in two classes: Var. typica, Schneid., the 

 hard-shelled almond, grown mostly for ornament, 

 although there are bitter-kerneled and sweet-kerneled 

 forms (vars. amara and dulcis); var. fragilis, Schneid., 

 the soft-shelled or brittle-shelled almond, of which there 

 are also vars. amara and saliva. See Almond. P. per- 

 sicoides, Asch. & Graebn. (Amygdalus communis var. 

 persicchdes, Ser. A. persicmdes, Zabel), is an old hybrid 

 of P. Persica and P. communis, with foliage much like 

 the latter but usually more sharply toothed, and fr. 

 intermediate or perhaps more peach-like, usually ovoid- 

 obtuse and little succulent. 



BB. Fr. soft and fleshy, usually not cracking or opening 

 to the stone. 



33. Persica, Sieb. & Zucc. (Amygdalus Persica, 

 Linn. Persica vulgaris, Mill.). PEACH. Figs. 2785- 

 2791. Much like the almond in botanical characters 

 and by some thought to be derived from that plant, but 

 now generally agreed to be an original species and to be 

 native to China (Fig. 2791, p. 2495): Ivs. broad- 

 lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, coarsely serrate, the 

 petiole usually gland- 

 bearing and J^in. or less 



long (shorter than the 

 width of one side of If .- 

 blade) : fls. solitary, pink, 

 appearing before the Ivs., 

 the sepals more or less 

 pubescent on outside : 

 fr. soft, pubescent at 

 maturity, the stone 

 deep-pitted and very 

 hard. Widely cult., 

 especially in N. Amer., 

 where it thrives under a 

 great variety of condi- 

 tions. There are 2 well- 

 marked forms, the cling- 

 stones or pavies (Persica 

 vulgaris, Risso), and the 

 freestones (Persica 

 domestica, Risso) . There 

 are many ornamental 

 forms of the peach tree: 

 double-fld., Fig. 2789. 

 (F.S. 10:969; 13:1299, 

 1300. R.H. 1852:221); 

 white-fld., dark-fld., etc.; 

 purple-lvd. ; variegated- 

 lvd.; dwarfs. These 3228. Prunus Davidiana (XH). 

 forms are catalogued NO. 34. 



