494 



The Plums and Cherries 



Fig. 452. Wild Goose Plum. 



4-flowered umbels on slender, roughish pedicels; the calyx-tube is obconic, the 



lobes ovate, blunt or pointed, glandular- 

 toothed, hairy on both surfaces; the petals 

 are obovate, seldom notched. The fruit 

 ripens in September or October, is nearly 

 globular, 2 to 2.5 cm. long, bright red; its 

 skin is thick, the flesh thin, hard, and 

 acid ; the stone is oval, somewhat swollen, 

 usually rough and pitted, grooved on one 

 edge, ridged on the other. 



The fruit of the Wild goose plum is 

 gathered from the wild trees and used like 

 that from other wild plums. It is the 

 parent of many of the best varieties of 

 American cultivated plums. The wood 

 is similar to that of the closely related 

 plum trees. 



A form with dull, thicker, coarser 

 toothed, mostly oblanceolate, prominently-veined leaves and a smooth stone, oc- 

 curring in Illinois, Missouri, and Tennessee, is known as Prunus hortulana Mineri 

 Bailey, and sometimes regarded as a distinct species. 



10. CANADA PLUM Prunus nigra Aiton 



Also called Horse plum, this is a small, bushy tree, occurring in woods and ne- 

 glected lands from Newfoundland to Alberta, 

 and southward to Georgia, reaching a maxi- 

 mum height of ID meters, with a trunk di- 

 ameter of 3 dm. 



The bark is 3 mm. thick, with a smooth 

 light gray to brown, thin outer layer, which 

 peels off readily; the twigs are light green, 

 smooth or shghtly hairy, soon becoming dark 

 red-brown, and develop spine-hke spurs often 

 5 cm. long; the winter buds are rather large, 

 5 to 8 mm. long, and covered with brown 

 scales. The leaves are firm, eUiptic to obo- 

 vate, 6 to 12 cm. long, 2.5 to 7 cm. broad, 

 sharply pointed, rounded or blunt at the 

 broadish base, margined by glandular, mostly 

 double teeth, light green and smooth above, 

 pale and sparingly hairy, with midrib promi- 

 nent beneath; the leaf-stalk is 1.5 to 2.5 cm. 

 long, with two prominent red glands near the base of the blade. The flowers, 



Fig. 453. Canada Plum, 



