\. 



Alleghany Sloe 



\ 



489 



pointed, rounded at the base, slightly ridged on one edge and grooved at the 

 other. 



The fruit is gathered from wild trees and made into pies and preserves. 



3. GEORGIA SLOE Prunus mitis Beadle 



A small tree or shrub, with spreading or ascending branches, known only from 

 dry soils in Georgia and Alabama, where it attains 

 a maximum height of 8 meters and a trunk diame- 

 ter of 3 dm. 



The bark is dark gray to reddish brown; the 

 twigs are smooth, shining, becoming dark gray or 

 bro\\^Ti, seldom producing spiny spurs. The leaves 

 are thin, elHptic, lanceolate to obovate, 2 to 9 cm. 

 long, sharply or taper-pointed, narrowed or rounded 

 and 2-glandular at the base, densely hairy on both 

 surfaces, especially so on the prominent venation, 

 bright green above, paler beneath, the leaf-stalk 

 densely hair}% 4 to 10 mm. long. The flowers, ap- 

 pearing before the leaves in late March, are about 

 1.5 cm. across, in stalkless, 2- to 6-flowered umbels, 

 on slender, smooth pedicels i to 2 cm. long; the 

 calyx-tube is obconic, smooth at the base, its lobes 

 triangular, blunt-pointed, hairy on outer, velvety on 

 inner surface; the petals are obovate, rounded at the apex. The fruit, ripening in 

 June and July, is oblong, i to 1.4 cm. long, dark purple, with a bloom; the stone 

 is ovoid or oval, slightly flattened, about i cm. long, pointed at each end, especially 

 at the apex, and ridged on one edge. 



Fig. 446. Georgia Sloe. 



4. ALLEGHANY SLOE Prunus alleghaniensis Porter 



Also called Porter's plum, and sometimes, Sloe, this is a local tree or shrub, being 

 knowTi mainly from a narrow strip of territory crossing the mountains of Penn- 

 sylvania, known as the Barrens, extending through Huntingdon and Clearfield 

 counties, where it forms extensive thickets and reaches a maximum height of 

 6 meters, with a trunk diameter of 2 dm. 



As a tree it is slender, with many erect, stiff branches, and few spines if any; 

 the bark is 8 mm. thick, fissured, and with small, persistent scales; the twigs are 

 pale-hairy, soon becoming smooth, dark red and somewhat shining, finally very 

 dark brown. The leaves are thick and firm, oblong-cIHptic to lanceolate, 5 to 9 

 cm. long, sharply or taper-pointed, more or less rounded at the base, finely sharp- 

 toothed, hairy when young, becoming dark green and roughish above, smooth 

 except for a few hairs on the veins beneath; the leaf-stalk is slender, grooved, 1.5 to 

 2 cm, long, and sometimes hairy. The flowers, opening in May, when the leaves 



