GENESIS OP THE BORTULANAS 199 



:onspicuou8ly veiny In-low. and irregularly coarsely 

 toothed, and more or less obovate in outline, by a 

 late, very firm fruit . and by a more or less Bmootb 

 and Americana -like stone. I am not able to designate 

 the range of the wild plant, bnl it appears to occur 

 in Illinois (and perhaps Indiana). Missouri, Ten- 

 . and perhaps in Arkansas." This sub-group 

 I called Prunus hortulana var. Mineri. The varie- 

 ties Miner and Forest Rose are typical of it. These 

 are bo near Prunus Americana that Sargent refers 

 them to that species. In foliage and fruit they have 

 marks of the hortulana tribe, and I now regard them 

 as hybrids — perhaps secondary ones — which partake 

 very Btrongly of th>- Americana blood. 



One who diligently Btudies the native plums will 

 In- impressed with the great variation which is asso- 

 ciated with change of climate or locality. In the 

 south' *rn the flowers tend to appear wholly 



in advance of the leaves, and they are borne upon 

 short .-talks, or may be nearly or quite sessile. In 



the North, the flowers and leaves are generally sta- 



aeous, and the flower Btalks are usually longer This 

 curious phenomenon, which is illustrated in the 

 accompanying engravings (Pigs. 30, 31), is due to 

 th"- more sudden outburst of Bpring in the North. 

 by virtue of which all the latent energies of the plant 

 are pushed into simultaneous expansion 1 . The same 

 sudden outbui seen in Prunus Americana 



This difference is often so pronounced in 

 botanical specimens of flowering Bhoots of the same 

 horticultural variety, taken in the South and tin- 

 North, that even L'""d botanists ma} be confounded 



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