/ 



490 



The Plums and Cherries 



are unfolding, are about 1.5 cm. across, in nearly stalkless, 2- to 5-flowered umbels, 



on slender, smooth pedicels about 2 cm. 

 long; the calyx-tube is narrowly obconic, 

 its lobes broadly oblong, blunt, and hairy 

 within; the petals are rounded, white, fad- 

 ing to pink; the filaments and pistil are 

 smooth. The fruit, ripening in July or 

 August, is globose-ovoid, i to 2 cm. in di- 

 ameter, dark purple, with a bluish bloom; 

 the skin is thick and tough; the flesh is 

 thick and pleasantly acid; the stone is 

 broadly oval, somewhat flattened, 8 to 15 

 mm. long, pointed at both ends, ridged on 

 one edge and somewhat grooved at the 

 other. 



The fruit of the Alleghany sloe is much 

 gathered for local use, in the making of 

 Fig. 447- -Alleghany Sloe. pj^s and jellies. The wood is hard, close- 



grained, reddish brown, its specific gravity about 0.70. 



5. HOG PLUM Prunus injucunda Small 



Like its relatives, this is also called Sloe. It is a shrub or small, straggling, 

 somewhat spiny tree of the granite hills of Georgia and Alabama, and is particu- 

 larly abundant at the base of Stone Mountain, 

 where it was first discovered. Its maximum 

 height is 8 meters, with a trunk diameter of 2 

 dm. 



The bark is thin, closely fissured, dull dark- 

 gray to nearly black; the twigs are velvety, soon 

 becoming reddish or purphsh, and finally dull 

 gray. The leaves are thick and firm, ovate to 

 obovate, 3 to 6 cm. long, sharp or taper-pointed, 

 tapering or rounded at the base, finely toothed 

 with sharp, thin-pointed teeth, yellowish green, 

 wrinkled and shghtly hairy above, densely vel- 

 vety, with the yellow midrib very prominent, the 

 lateral veins less so, beneath; leaf-stalk stout, 

 0.5 to I cm. long, and hairy. The flowers, open- 

 ing in March or April, are in nearly stalkless 



umbels of 4 or 5, on slender, hairy pedicels about ^^^ ^^g _ ^^^ p,^_ 



1.5 cm. long; the calyx-tube is obconic and 

 hairy, its lobes triargular, erect, entire, ciHate, and sharply pointed; the clawed 



