Other Kinds of Plums 89 



I have seen several interesting hybrids which he has 

 produced by combining this with various other species. 

 This type more closely resembles the European plums 

 of the Domestica group than any other of our Ameri- 

 can species. The fruit is comparatively large, the 

 flesh firm, and the quality uncommonly good. The 

 only cultivated variety of this type of which I have 

 ever heard is the one mentioned by Bailey* under the 

 name of Sisson. 



The Oklahoma Plum. This is a name which I have 

 here applied for the first time to an interesting native 

 species which has hitherto never been able to afford 

 the luxury of an English name. The botanical name, 

 Prunus gracilis, has no special appropriateness. It 

 grows from southern Kansas to northern Texas and 

 eastward to Tennessee, but reaches its principal devel- 

 opment along the Cimarron river in Oklahoma and 

 eastward in the Indian Territory. It is a dwarf, rather 

 harsh-leaved, small-fruited plum, more closely re- 

 sembling the Beach plum than any other. In fact, the 

 two species seem to be near relatives. The fruit is some- 

 times gathered and sold in the local markets, and has 

 about the same culinary value as inferior grades of the 

 wild Americanas. The plant has some ornamental 

 value; and the fruit is good enough to give promise of 

 improvement. The type is variable like the Beach 

 plum, and the variations, strangely, seem to run in the 

 same lines. There are no named varieties. 



The Alleghany Plum. This is a small, straggling 

 tree or bush, which grows wild over a restricted area 

 in Pennsylvania. Professor Bailey says: "Its merits 

 as a fruit-bearing plant seem to be so inferior to those 

 of the Americana plums, that I do not look for any 

 attempt to ameliorate the species for many years to 



'Evolution of Our Native Fruits, 216. 1898. 



