Prunus. ROSACEiE. lQ*j 



§ 1. Frait ohlong, fleshy, glabrous: the stone flattish, smooth, nsunlhj arntily mar- 

 gined, or grooved on one edge: flowers white, few to several in wabel-like dusters 

 from lateral scaly buds in early spring. — Prunus. 



1. P. subcordata, Benth. (Wild Plum.) A scraggy much-brancheJ shrub, 



3 to 10 feut high, with ash-gray bark, the branchlets occasionally spinescent: young 

 branches and leaves finely pubescent, becoming glabrous : leaves ovate, cordate to 

 cuneate at base, obtuse or acute, sharply and iinely serrulate, about an incli long, 

 shortly petioled ; glands at the base of the blade 1 to 4, or wanting : nniliels 2-4- 

 flowered; pedicels 3 to G lines long: calyx puberulent : corolla half an inch broa<l: 

 fruit red, large and edible, about f inch long : stone acutely edged on one side, 

 grooved upon the other. — PI. Hartw. 308. 



On dry rocky hills and in open woods, mostly eastward of the central valley from San Feliiio 

 to Oregon ; most almmliiit in the northern part of the State, where also the fruit is larger and 

 more pulpy. It is iili;is;iiitly acid and is gatliered in considerable ([uantitics by both Indians aud 

 whites. Flowering in April or May, the fruit is ripe in August and September. 



§ 2. Smaller fruit and stone ovoid or suhglobose, the latter marginless: floivers coryvv- 

 hose or umbellate: otherwise as § 1. — Cekasus. 



2. P. emarginata, Walpers. A shrub 4 to 8 feet high, with bark like that of 

 the ordinary Cherry-tree, and chestnut-brown very slender branches, glabrous or 

 nearly so : leaves oblong-obovate to oblanceolate, mostly obtuse, crenately serrulate, 

 1 to 3 inches long, narrowed to a short petiole, with usually one or more glands 

 near the base of the blade : corymb 6 - 1 2-flowered, shorter than the leaves : flowers 



4 to 6 lines broad : fruit globose, black, about 4 lines long, bitter and astringent : 

 stone with a thick grooved ridge upon one side. — Cerasus emarginata, Dougl. ; 

 Hook. Fl. i. 169. C. glandulosus, Kellogg, Proc. Calif. Acad. i. 59. 



Var. mollis, Brewer. Taller, becoming a small tree 25 feet high : more or less 

 woolly -pubescent, especially on- the under side of the leaves. — Cerasus mollis, 

 Dougl. 1. c. ; Xutt. Sylva, ii. 14, t. 46. P. mollis, Walpers. 



Mostly in open forests, in the Sierra Nevada, from Yosemite Valley northward to Puget Sound : 

 also more rarely near the coast ; Oakland Hills and Tamalpais, Bolander. The variety is the 

 more common Oregon form. 



§ 3. Fruit small, globose, fleshy, glahrous : stone broadly ovoid, marginless : flowers 

 white in terminal racemes, appearing after the leaves. — Padus. 



3. P. demissa, Walpers. {Wild Cherry.) An erect slender shrub 2 to 12 

 feet high : leaves ovate or oblong-obovate, nsually broadest above the middle, al> 

 ruptly acuminate, mostly rounded or somewhat cordate at base, sharply serrate with 

 straight slender teeth, usually more or less pubescent beneath, 2 to 4 inches long, 

 with 1 or 2 glands at base : racemes 3 or 4 inches long, many-flowered : fruit glo- 

 bose, purplish-black, or red, sweet and edible but somewhat astringent : stono 

 globose. — Cerasus demissa, ISTutt. ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 411 ; Watson, Bot. King 

 Exp. 80. P. Virginiana, var. demissa, Torrey, Bot. Wilkes, 284 ; Gray, Proc. Am, 

 Acad. viii. 381. 



In the mountains throughout the State from San Diego County {Parry, Palmer) to the 

 Columbia River, except near the coast, and eastward to the Rocky Mountains. It fruits abun- 

 dantly, often when only 2 or 3 feet high. It resembles the following species veiy closely. 



P. Virginiana, Linn. Leaves rarely at all pubescent, more frequently somewhat euncatc at 

 base : fruit dark red, very astringent and scarcely edible ; the stone more ovoid and aoutish : 

 otherwise like the last, but more diffuse in habit, and preferring stream banks and moist locali- 

 ties. — It is doubtful if this species, the eastern Choke Cherry, is found west of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. A somewhat similar form, distinct from the last, with conspicuous linear stipules aiid 

 bracts in the early stage, is found in the West Humboldt Mts., Nevada (IFaf son), and is to be 

 looked for in the northeastern part of the State. 



P. SEiiOTixA, Ehrhart, the Wild Black Cherry of the Atlantic States, has been introduced 

 about San Francisco. It becomes a tree, and may be distinguished by its more acuminate leaves 

 aud short incurved callous-pointed teeth, only the niidveiu of the leal sometimes j.ubesceut. 



