The Sand-cherry 393 



Besseyi, Bailey. 1 It is a graceful, somewhat spreading 

 shrub, 3 to 4 feet high, with slender, ascending or slightly 

 drooping branches. At flowering time the leaves are 

 small, narrowly oblanceolate, and slightly whitened be- 

 neath, but at maturity they become oval or elliptic, very 

 bright and shining on both sides. The flowers are borne 

 in axillary clusters all along the younger branches, so 

 that at blossoming time these are one mass of bloom. The 

 fruit ranges from three-eighths to five-eighths of an inch 

 in diameter, and is usually very dark purple or blackish 

 in color. In flavor it resembles the improved forms of the 

 eastern choke cherry, Prunus virginiana, occasionally 

 found in cultivation, but is larger. 



The species is found wild from Manitoba to Kansas 

 and westward to the mountains of Colorado and Utah. 

 Its value as a fruit-plant has been urged from time to 

 time, and it was introduced from Colorado as the improved 

 dwarf Rocky Mountain cherry. Plants received under 

 this name had been growing in the grounds of the Ne- 

 braska Experiment Station for several years, and although 

 white with blossoms in springtime, none of the fruit ma- 

 tured until wild plants were set in the same garden, prob- 

 ably owing to a lack of proper fecundation. 



Similar lack of fruitfulness sometimes occurs when wild 

 plants are removed to the garden, though as a rule they 

 are immensely productive. Wild plants set in the spring 

 of 1895 were loaded with fruit in 1897. The size varies 

 much on different plants, showing abundant opportunity 

 for selection. It ripens after other cherries, from the 



1 For a fuller account of the species, see Cornell University Ex- 

 periment Station Bulletin, 38: 58-65, and 70: 260-262. 



