82 Rose ( Rosacece) 



Fig. 29. Beach Plum. P. marifima, Wang. 



Flowers, white, two to five in each cluster, appearing 

 before the leaves. April, May. 



Leaf, one to three inches long, edge very finely toothed, 

 outline mostly oval, light green, soft, downy beneath, 

 especially when young, strongly net-veined. Leaf- 

 stem, with two small, wart-like dots. Bark, very 

 dark. 



Fruit, one half to one inch in diameter, round or oval, 

 purple or crimson. Stone, much swollen, sharp on 

 one edge, on the opposite side rounded and finely 

 grooved ; edible. Ripe in August and September. 



Found, on and near the sea-beach from Massachusetts to 

 Virginia. 



A straggling, much-branching bush, two to five feet 

 high. The farther it grows from the beach, the thinner 

 and smoother its leaves are likely to be, and its plums 

 smaller. Its fruit is much sought in autumn for preserv- 

 ing. " Beach-plumming" along the coast equals in 

 interest " chestnutting " and " huckleberrying " inland. 



Prunus Alleghaniensis. Porter. 

 Leaves, long oval to lanceolate. 



Fruit, very dark purple, less than one half inch in diam- 

 eter. Stone, with a broad flat ridge on one side, and 

 a shallow groove on the other. 



Found, on the bluffs of the Alleghany Mountains in 

 Pennsylvania. 



A straggling shrub, or sometimes a small tree, three 

 to fifteen feet high, seldom thorny. 



