356 



THE KINDS OF PLANTS 



^5 



476. Prunns Persica. 



light colored (.sometimes white), the akenes 

 not sunk in the flesh. Cool woods; common 

 North. 



r. Virgini^na, Duch. Common field straw- 

 berry. Fig. 475. Stronger, darker green, loose- 

 hairy, the leaves with more sunken veins and 

 larger and firmer: flower-cluster slender but not 

 overtopping the leaves, in fruit with drooping 

 pedicels: fruit globular or broad-conical, with 

 akenes sunk in the flesh, light colored. Very 

 475. Fragaiia Virginiana. common. 



F. CMlo^nsis, Duch. Garden strawberry. Fig. 204. Low and spread- 

 ing but stout, the thick leaves somewhat glossy above and bluish white 

 beneath, rather blunt-toothed: flower-clusters short, forking, the pedicels 

 strong and long: fruit large and firm, dark colored, with sunken akenes. 

 Chile. 

 5. PEtNTTS. Peach. Plum. Cherry. 



Trees and shrubs, mostly flowering in early 

 spring: sepals, petals and stamens borne on the rim 

 of a saucer-shaped torus, the calyx with 5 green 

 spreading lobes and the petals 5 and obovate: pis- 

 til 1, sitting in the bottom of the flower, the ovary ripen- 

 ing into a drupe: leaves alternate. 



a. Peach and apricot : flowers solitary from lateral win- 

 ter buds, visually appearing before the leaves. 

 P. P6rBica, Sieb. & Zucc. Peach. Fig. 476. Small 

 tree, with oblong-lanceolate pointed serrate leaves and sol- 

 itary fuzzy fruits on last year's wood. China. The nec- 

 tarine is a smooth-fruited form. 



P. Armeniaca, Linn. Apricot. Fig. 477. Leaves ovate 

 to round-ovate, serrate: fruits solitary, on last year's shoots or on spurs, 

 smooth or nearly so. China. 



aa. Plums: flowers in umbel-like clusters: fruit large and smooth, usually 



with a distinct suture (or "crease") on one side and covered tcith a 



"bloom," the stalk short. 



P. dom^stica, Linn. Common plum. Figs. 194, 262. Small tree, usually 



with young shoots downy: leaves thick and relatively large, dull dark green, 



ovate, oval or obovate, very rugose or veiny, somewhat pubescent beneath, 



coarsely and unevenly serrate: flowers large: fruits various, usually thick- 



meated and with heavy "bloom." Europe, Asia. 



P. Americana, Marsh. Wild plum of the North. Fig. 478. Twiggy 

 small tree, often tiiorny, the young shoots usually not downy: leaves obo- 

 vate, dull green, abruptly pointed, coarsely toothed or jagged, not pubescent 

 beneath: fruit small, red or yellow, tough-skinned and glaucous, the pit 

 large and flattened. Common in thickets: improved forms are in cultivation. 



I 



