5o8 



The Wild Cherries 



scales; the twigs are slender, hair}', soon becoming nearly smooth, dark red-brown 



and finally brown, with many 

 small, darker, roundish lenticels. 

 The leaves are thick and leath- 

 ery, oblong-elHptic to broadly 

 ovate, 6 to 12 cm. long, 2.5 to 4 

 cm. wide, short taper-pointed or 

 sometimes blunt, rounded or 

 slightly narrowed at the base, 

 toothed by rather distant, short, 

 blunt, gland-tipped teeth, deep 

 green and smooth above, pale 

 and slightly hairy beneath, es- 

 pecially along the prominent, 

 darkish venation; the petiole is 

 short and grooved. The flowers 

 appear early in May, are about 



Fig. 469. -Alabama Cherry. ^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^ -^^ g^jfj spreading 



or erect racemes 10 to 15 cm. long, the axis, pedicels, and the calyx closely hairy; 

 the calyx-tube is urn-shaped, its lobes short, nearly triangular; the petals are nearly 

 orbicular, white, the filaments and pistil smooth; the stigma club-shaped. The 

 fruit is globose, about 10 mm. thick, purple, subtended by the persistent calyx 

 and filaments at its base; the flesh is thin and sour; the stone is ovoid, shghtly 

 flattened, about 7 mm. long, ridged on one edge, grooved at the other. 



8. SOUTHERN WILD CHERRY Padus austraUs (Beadle) Small 



Primus australis Beadle 



A very local species known only from the vicinity of Evergreen, Alabama, 

 where it is a spreading tree, attaining a maxi- 

 mum height of 20 meters, with a trunk di- 

 ameter of 4.5 dm. 



The bark of old trunks is i cm. thick, 

 gray to nearly black; on younger trunks and 

 branches it is light gray, roughened by nu- 

 merous lenticels; the twigs are slender, pale- 

 hairy, soon becoming smooth, and dull 

 reddish brown. The leaves are thin and 

 firm, obovate to ovate or elhptic, 4 to 10 

 cm. long, abruptly blunt-pointed, sometimes 

 sharp-pointed, rounded or narrowed at the 

 base, finely saw-toothed, dull dark green and 

 smooth above, covered by brownish hairs fig. 470 Southern wild Cherry. 



