342 THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 



came from a stone of one of the several varieties in his garden but Mr. 

 Wiley is not sure of this origin and suggests that it may have sprouted 

 from a root. 



Tree large, vigorous, round-topped, hardy, productive; branches thifek, ash-gray, 

 smooth except for the raised lenticels; branchlets of medium thickness and length, 

 with long internodes, green changing to brownish-drab and with a red tinge, dull, 

 covered with thick pubescence throughout the season, with inconspicuous lenticels 

 of medium number and size; leaf-buds small, short, conical, appressed. 



Leaves many, flattened or folded upward, obovate or oval, one and three-quarters 

 inches wide, three and one-half inches long, thick, leathery; upper surface dark green, 

 hairy, with a grooved midrib; lower surface silvery-green, thick, pubescent; apex 

 abruptly pointed or acute, base acute, margin serrate or crenate, eglandular or with 

 small dark glands; petiole one-half inch long, thick, pubescent, with a red tinge, glandless 

 or with one or two globose, yellowish-green glands usually at the base of the leaf. 



Season of bloom intermediate in time and length ; flowers appearing with the leaves, 

 nearly one and one-quarter inches across, white ; borne on lateral buds and spurs, singly 

 or in pairs; pedicels three-quarters inch long, pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, 

 campanulate, pubescent; calyx-lobes obtuse, lightly pubescent on both surfaces, gland- 

 ular-serrate and with marginal hairs, reflexed; petals broadly oval or obovate, slightly 

 crenate or occasionally notched, with short, broad claws; anthers yellow; filaments 

 five-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens. 



Fruit late, intermediate in length of ripening season; one and one-half inches by 

 one and three-eighths inches in size, ovate, swollen on the suture side, compressed, 

 halves equal; cavity shallow, abrupt; suture shallow; apex bluntly pointed; color 

 purplish-black, overspread with thick bloom; dots small, russet, somewhat conspicuous; 

 stem seven-eighths inch long, pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, tender, 

 separating readily; flesh greenish-yellow, rather tart, firm, sweet, mild in flavor; inferior 

 in quality; stone semi-clinging, often with red tinge near the edge, seven-eighths inch 

 by three-quarters inch in size, irregular roundish-ovate, turgid, rough, blunt at the base 

 and apex; ventral suture wide, ridged, distinctly winged; dorsal suture wide, deep. 



SHIRO 



Prunus simonii X Prunus triflora X Prunus cerasifera X Prunus munsoniana 



i. Cal. State Ed. Hort. 53 fig. 1897. 2 Burbank Cat. 1899. 3. Waugh Plum Cult. 225. 

 1901. 4. Rural N. Y. 62:582. 1903. 

 Late Klondike i. 



Shiro has been in the hands of fruit-growers too short a time to permit 

 a just estimate of it to be made. As the variety grows on the grounds of 

 this Station, the fruits are large and handsome in form and color, as is well 

 shown in the illustration. The flavor lacks character and is almost insipid 

 but the flesh is tender, melting and juicy and so translucent that the pit 



