214 ECOXOAIIC BOTANY OF ALABAMA 



Prunus angustifolia, Marsh. (P. Cliicasa, Mx.) 



Wild Plum. (Chickasaw Plum.) 



A shrub or small tree, growing usually in clumps or small 

 thickets. The flowers appear before the leaves in March, and the 

 fruit, which is either red or yellow, about an inch long, and good 

 to eat, either raw or preserved, ripens in May or June, according 

 to latitude and season. 



This species is supposed to have been introduced by the In- 

 dians from somewhere farther west, but its natural range and hab- 

 itat (if any) have never been discovered. It grows in old fields 

 and fence-rows, nearly throughout the South outside of the moun- 

 tains, and seems to be most abundant in the regions that have been 

 cultivated the longest. 



In Alabama it is common in regions IB, 3, 5, 6C, T, 8, and 

 lOE, and rare or unknown in lx\, 2A, 4, 6B, 12, 14 and 1-5. 



Prunus umbellata, Kll. Hog Plum. (Sloe;). 



A small tree, blooming in February and March. The fruit 

 ripens in midsummer or later, and is smaller than that of P. angus- 

 tifolia, and hardly fit to eat. 



Grows in dry woods and hammocks, mostly in the coastal 

 plain. Not common. 



7. Along Catoma Creek 5 miles southwest of Montgomery. Near 

 Hatcher's Bluff, Dallas County (Cocks). 

 lOE. Pike and Coffee Counties, 

 low. or 11 (?). Clarke County (Mohr). 



12. Geneva County. 



13. Mobile, Baldwin and Escambia Counties (Mohr). 



Prunus injncunda. Small, reported from Alpine Mountain, Talladega 

 County, by Mohr (Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 26:118. 1899), and P. mitis 

 Beadle (Biltmore Bot. Stud. 1:162. 1902), described from Lee County, are 

 regarded by Wight and later writers as mere varieties of P. iniihcllata. They 

 may however be as distinct as some of the alleged species of Crataegus. Mr. 

 W. W. Ashe reports finding P. iniiis about 5 miles east of Moundville, 

 Hale County, in August, 1926. 



Prunus serotina, Ehrh. Wild Cherry. 



A well-known tree, sometimes of medium size or larger, but 

 often blooming and bearing fruit when quite small. The flowers 

 appear with the leaves in March and April, and the fruit is ripe 

 by June. 



