WILD PLUM. 321 



Distribution. At least quite common in the southern half of 

 Minnesota. 



Uses. Valuable for hedges and as a lawn tree in good soil. 

 The wood is heavy, hard and strong, and is often used for walk- 

 ing sticks and firewood. 



Genus PRUNUS. 



Shrubs or trees with alternate, simple leaves. Flowers with 

 calyx that is deciduous after flowering; a single pistil with a 

 superior ovary containing a pair of ovules and becoming a 

 single drupe or stone fruit. This genus comprises some of our 

 most valued fruits, such as the Plum, Peach, Cherry, Apricot 

 and Nectarine, and ornamental plants such as the Double Flow- 

 ering Almond. All the species here referred to are ornamental 

 when in flower. 



This genus seems to divide more or less into two groups, 

 which are distinguished by the form of inflorescence, one group 

 bearing its flowers in racemes and the other in umbels. It is 

 of interest to notice that it is difficult, if not quite impossible, 

 to graft or bud trees of the different groups together, while 

 within each group trees of the different species can be grafted 

 quite readily. 



Prunus americana. Wild Plum. 



Leaves oval or slightly obovate. Flowers appear when the 

 leaves are about one-half unfolded. Fruit large, colored with 

 red and yellow, often with a heavy bloom; generally ascerb but 

 frequently good; the parent of our cultivated sorts such as 

 Rollingstone, Wolf, Forest Garden, De Soto, Cheney and 

 others; ripens August to September. A small thorny tree, 

 seldom over twenty feet high, and generally found growing 

 in thickets. A form of this that flowers very early and has 

 fruit with a thin pit is considered a variety or perhaps a separate 

 species. (P. nigra.) The Aitkin Plum comes under this head. 



Distribution. It is found from New York and New Jersey to 

 Nebraska and the upper Missouri Valley south to northern 

 Mexico and western Florida. In Minnesota throughout the 

 state, in thickets along banks of streams. 



Propagation. Grown from the seeds, which should not be 

 allowed to become hard and dry, but should be stratified if they 

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