THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 99 



wild Americanas and under cultivation would probably improve. The 

 small size of plant and fruit are the most unpromising characters though 

 the species is also much subject to black -knot. 



24. PRUNUS RIVULARIS Scheele 



z. Scheele Linnaea 21:594. 1848. 2. Gray PI. Wright. 1:67. 1852. 3. Hall PI. Texas, g 

 1873. 4. Coulter Cora. U. S. Nat. Herb. 2:101. 1891. 5. Waugh Bot. Gaz. 26:50-52. 1898. 

 6. Bailey Ev. Nat. Fr. 223. 1898. 



Shrub three to seven feet high; branches angular, smooth, shining, ash-colored, 

 rough; lenticels small, crowded; leaves oblong-ovate or sometimes ovate, rarely 

 lanceolate, apex acute, margins coarsely or doubly serrate, glabrous above and sparingly 

 pubescent below; petioles glandular, grooved, pubescent; flowers in lateral umbels, 

 in pairs or several-flowered; fruit about one-half inch in diameter, oblong-oval, cherry- 

 red; skin thick, smooth and tough, acid. 



The preceding description is largely compiled from the authors given 

 in the references, the writer having seen only herbarium specimens. The 

 species is included here largely upon the authority of Professor C. S. Sargent 

 of the Arnold Arboretum and W. F. Wight, who know the plant as de- 

 scribed by Scheele in the field. Gray described the plant as " verging 

 to Americana." Bailey says " it evidently bears the same relation to 

 Prunus americana that Prunus watsoni does to the Chickasaw plum." 

 Waugh is " convinced that Prunus rivularis Scheele is nothing more, than 

 one of the more distinct sub-divisions of the multiform hortulana group." l 

 T. V. Munson writes me that the Waylandi plums belong in this species. 

 My own opinion is, from the herbarium specimens examined, from correspond- 

 ence and conversation with those who have seen the plant in the field, that 

 Scheele 's species is a good one and quite distinct from the species named 

 by Bailey, Waugh and Munson as allied to it. It is to be looked for along 

 the streams and bottom-lands in the neighborhood of San Antonio and 

 New Braunfels, Texas. The plum is locally known as the Creek plum 

 and in common with other plums is gathered for home consumption. The 

 species seems to offer but few possibilities for the fruit-grower. 



1 The references given contain these quotations. 



