THE PLUM FAMILY. 255 



Hardly is there a tree or shrub of more delicate and chaste beauty than 

 this wild plum when in full bloom and the tiny young leaves are just 

 beginning to show themselves. Very gracefully then the white flowers 

 hang from pedicels almost as fine as threads. The fruit is extremely bitter 

 according to the published statements of Dr. Small, who discovered the 

 species in the region of Stone Mountain, Georgia, in July, 1893. 



P. Americana, wild red or wild yellow plum, becomes when a tree about 

 thirty feet high, but quite as often it remains a shrub. In lateral simple 

 umbels the flowers grow and appear before the sometimes doubly serrate 

 leaves. The rounded fruit is red, or orange, of a translucent attractive 

 brightness and has an unusually tough skin. At best it is not very good to 

 eat but makes up into really excellent preserves. 



P. iimbelldta, a shrub or small tree, was in fruit when I saw it in a field 

 near Jacksonville, Florida. It has a similar look to Prunus injucunda and 

 belongs to the group of wild plums bearing their flowers in lateral, simple 

 umbels which blow before the thin, smooth leaves unfold. Quite as early 

 as February in some seasons, Prunus umbellata is covered with its white, 

 rather small blossoms, the petals of which are raised on distinct claws. In 

 August the fruit ripens. This is round and dark purplish, covered with a 

 bloom, and altogether too sour to be edible. It is readily distinguished 

 from Prunus injucunda by its smooth leaves and shoots. 



P. angustifblia, chickasaw, or hog plum, occurs as a small tree with very 

 narrow, lanceolate leaves, folded together lengthwise when young and which 

 are then slightly curved. The flowers grow abundantly in short lateral 

 umbels on the wood of the preceding year and usually their petals have 

 fallen before the new growth of the season appears. The plum is red with 

 a thin skin and has but little bloom. In the south it is common about old 

 homesteads. 



CHERRY LAUREL. WILD ORANGE. 



PriDiics Carolinidna. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Plum. W'liitc. Scentless. Florida and S^orth Carolina February. .March. 



westward. Fruit: autumn. 



Flozuers : growing closely in short, erect, axillary racemes. Qi/vx : top-shaped, 

 the lobes deciduous. Petals: very small. Stamens: numerous, much c.xscrtcd. 

 Fruit: ovoid, black, lustrous. Leaves: long-oblong, or ovate-lanceolate, 

 pointed at both ends, mostly entire, thick and highly lustrous above; coriaceous; 

 evergreen. 



Very pretty and well shaped does this small tree appear as along the 

 banks of rivers it retains throughout the year its thick, glossy leaves. The 

 fruit also remains on the branches over the winter, or until the opening of 

 the flowering season. By the way its blossoms are grouped in erect ra- 

 cemes, much shorter even than the leaves, the cherry laurel, as it is appro- 



