ROSE FAMILY. 145 



firm and thick in texture, very rugose, usually pubescent beneatU, 

 coarsely serrate ; shoots usually downy ; fruit very various, of many 

 shapes and flavors, but mostly .fflobular-pointed or oblong, tlie stone large 

 and slightly roughened or pitted. J'erhaps derived from the last. 



P. cerasifera, Ehrh. Mvrobai.an or Chkrky Tli'm. Differs from 

 fhe last in a more slender habit, often thorny ; flowers mostly smaller ; 

 .eaves smaller, thin, smooth, and finely and closely serrate ; fruit globu- 

 lar and cherry-like, ranging from the size of a large cherry to over an 

 inch in diameter, with a depression about the stem, in various shades of 

 red or yellow. Much used for stocks, and rarely grown for its fruit. 

 Perhaps a derivative of P. spinosa. Var. Pissardi is a form with purple 

 leaves and purple-fleshed fruit. 



P. trifldra, Roxb. Japanese Plum. Strong growing tree, recently 

 imported from Japan (native to China?) in several varieties; flowers 

 usually densely fascicled ; leaves and shoots smooth and hard, the former 

 obovate or oblong-obovate, prominently pointed, and finely and evenly 

 serrate ; fruit usually conspicuously pointed, red, yellow, or purple, with 

 a very firm flesh and commonly a small stone. 



-t- f- Native species. 



P. umbellita. Ell. Small bushy tree of the S. States ; flowers ap- 

 pearing with the leaves, 2 or 8 or more together on slender pedicels nearly 

 an inch long, rather large, white ; leaves smallish, ovate, or slightly obo- 

 vate, or sometimes short-oblong, thin and dull, closely and evenly ser- 

 rate ; fruit about three fourths of an inch in diameter, yellow, or reddish, 

 the flesh firm and austere ; stone short and turgid, cherry-like. Often 

 called Hoc Pi.im. 



P. Americana, Marsh. Common Wild Plum. A spreading, ragged, 

 often thorny, small tree, growing along streams and in copses from W. 

 New England to Col. and Tex. ; flowers large and white on slender 

 pedicels, appearing before or with the leaves ; the latter large, obovate, 

 abruptly pointed and coarsely toothed or even jagged above, very coarsely 

 veined, never glossy or shining ; fruit more or less flattened upon the 

 sides, firm and meaty, the skin tough and glaucous and never glossy, dull 

 yellow variously splashed or overlaid with dull red ; stone large and usu- 

 ally flattened, mostly nearly smooth and distinctly margined. Many 

 varieties in cultivation for their fruits. 



P. hortulina, Bailey. Wild Goose Plum. Strong, wide-spreading, 

 small trees with smooth straight twigs and a peach-like habit, wild in the 

 Mississippi Valley; flowers rather small, often very short-stalked ; leaves 

 narrow-ovate or ovate-lanceolate, thin and firm, flat, more or less peach- 

 like, smooth and usually shining, closely and obtusely glandular-serrate; 

 fruit spherical, bright colored and glossy (lemon-yellow or brilliant red), 

 the bloom very thin, juicy, with a clinging, turgid, and roughish, small, 

 pointed stone. Many varieties in cultivation. 



P. Chicasa, Michx. (more properly P. angustifolia). Chickasaw 



Plum, Mountain Cherry. Smaller tree than the last, with slender, 



zigzag, red twigs and smaller, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate leaves 



which are very closely and finely serrate, shining, and conduplicate or 



trough-like in habit ; fruit small and very early, red or rarely yellow, the 



skin thin and shining, and covered with many small light dots and a very 



thin bloom ; the flesh soft and juicy, often stringy, closely adherent to 



the small, broad, i-oughish stone. Wild from Del. S. & W., and also 



cultivated. oi. », x> r> 



* * Shrub; Beach Plum. 



P. marltima, Wang. A straggling, more or less decumbent bush 

 *rom 3 to 12 feet high, growing in the sand on the seashore; flowers 

 rtmall and pediceled, opening slightly in advance of the leaves ; the latter 

 oval, thick and heavily veined, finely but sharply serrate, becoming nearly 



tfKAV'» t: F. & G. HOT. '«'J 



