122 TREES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



DRUPACE.E. PLUM FAMILY. 



Trees or shrubs ; bark exuding gum ; bark, leaves, and 

 especially seeds of several species abounding in prussic acid ; 

 leaves simple, alternate, mostly serrate ; stipules small, soon 

 falling ; leafstalk often with one to several glands ; flowers in 

 umbels, racemes, or solitary, regular ; calyx tube free from the 

 ovary, 5-lobed ; petals 5, inserted on the calyx ; stamens 

 indefinite, distinct, inserted with the petals ; pistil 1, ovary 

 with 1 carpel, 1-seeded ; fruit a more or less fleshy drupe. 



Primus nigra, Ait. 



Prt***s Americana, var. nigra, Waugh. 



WILD PLUM. RED PLUM. HORSE PLUM. CANADA PLUM. 



Habitat and Range. Native along streams and in thickets, 

 often spontaneous around dwellings and along fences. 



From Newfoundland through the valley of the St. Lawrence to 

 Lake Manitoba. 



Maine, abundant in the northern sections and common 

 throughout ; New Hampshire and Vermont, frequent, espe- 

 cially in the northern sections ; Massachusetts, occasional ; 

 Ehode Island and Connecticut, not reported. 



Rare south of New England ; west to Wisconsin. 



Habit. A shrub or small tree, 20-25 feet high ; trunk 5-8 

 inches in diameter ; branches stout, ascending, somewhat angu- 

 lar, with short, rigid branchlets, forming a stiff, narrow head. 



Bark. Bark of trunk grayish-brown, smooth in young trees, 

 in old trees separating into large plates ; smaller branches dark 

 brown, season's shoots green. 



Winter Buds and Leaves. Buds small, ovate, acute, dark 

 brown. 



Leaves 3-5 inches long, light green on the upper side, paler 

 beneath, pubescent when young ; outline ovate-obovate or 

 orbicular, crenulate-serrate ; teeth not bristle-tipped; apex 



