HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



Running Swamp Blackberry 



P. hispidus. — Leaves of 3 leaflets, coarsely toothed, rather 

 thick and smooth, somewhat shiny and evergreen. Sepals and 

 petals, 5. May. 



A small-flowered species, with weak, prickly, trailing stems, 

 sending up flower-bearing, leafy shoots. It is a delicate, 

 pretty vine, not valuable for its fruit, which is small, consist- 

 ing of a few red or black drupes. The leaves turn a fine shade 

 of red in autumn and mingle with other vines and shrubs with 

 pretty effect. Nova Scotia to Georgia in swampy, grassy 

 grounds or moist woods. 



Beach Plum 



Primus maritima. — Family, Rose. Color, white. Leaves, alter- 

 nate, with stipules, oval, small, petioled, with finely cut edges, 

 softly downy beneath. Calyx of 5 sepals, united below. Petals, 

 5. Stamens, many. Pistil, 1. Fruit, a stone inclosed in fleshy 

 pulp, a drupe. Just before being ripe it is crimson, and when 

 fully ripe is a dark purple, covered with a whitish powdery 

 bloom, as large as a good-sized marble. Edible. 



A compact, low, spreading bush, from 2 to 6 feet high, 

 found in large numbers on sea-beaches from Maine to Vir- 

 ginia. When found farther inland the fruit is smaller. 

 Bark, dark purple, with light dots. 



Wild Yellow or Red Plum 



P. americana. — A tall shrub or medium-sized tree, 10 to 30 

 feet high. It bears orange or reddish plums, edible, but with a 

 tough and acid skin. Leaves, ovate or quite narrow, pointed, 

 smooth, veiny, sharply and doubly serrate. Calyx-lobes, hairy 

 inside. 



Along river-banks and borders of damp woods, from south- 

 ern New Jersey to Florida, westward to Colorado. 



Chickasaw Plum 



P. angustifblia 8 to 20 feet high, with few if any thorns. 



Leaves, long, narrow, finely toothed, smooth. Fruit, small, red- 

 dish, thin-skinned, ripe May to July. 



A Southern species, from Delaware to Florida, in dry soil. 



Sloe. Blackthorn 

 P. instititia — A shrub, much branched, thorny, 2 to 1 5 feet 

 high. Leaves, inversely ovate, rounded or narrowed at base, 

 acute or obtuse at apex, serrate, softly downy beneath. Fruit, 



400 



