BULLETIN OF THE 



ffiPEPIIfflKIFAild 



No. 172 



Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry, Wm. A. Taylor, Chief, 

 March 13, 1915. 



(PROFESSIONAL PAPER.) 



THE VARIETIES OF PLUMS DERIVED FROM 

 NATIVE AMERICAN SPECIES. 1 



By W. F. Wight. 

 Botanist, Office of Horticultural and Pomological Investigations. 2 



INTRODUCTION. 



The development from the wild condition and the introduction 

 into cultivation of the varieties of plums enumerated in the following 

 pages have taken place within the last hundred years, much the 

 larger proportion even within the past fifty years. For various 

 reasons many of the varieties never attained more than a local repu- 

 tation, while others did not remain long in general cultivation. 

 There are sections of the country where selection must be exer- 

 cised even with native species in order to secure a tree of sufficient 

 hardiness to withstand the strain of increased production when 

 placed under cultivation. Some are lacking in the quality of the 

 fruit, others are too susceptible to fungous troubles to make them 

 profitable, while doubtless many have been tried in regions adapted 

 to the growing of varieties of Old World species, where the natives 

 proved disappointing in comparison. Nevertheless, in other sections 

 the natives will probably be the main dependence, either as pure 

 species or as hybrids with Old World forms. 



No other native North American fruit, with the exception of the 

 grape, has given rise to so many varieties as the plum. Not all of 

 these have been derived from the same wild species, and the varieties 

 belonging to a given form are mainly the ones best adapted to the 

 region in which the parent species is native. A knowledge of the 



1 A botanical discussion of the native species of plums is given in U. S. Department of Agriculture Bul- 

 letin No. 179, entitled "Native American Species of Prunus." 



s This paper was prepared in 1911, while the writer was associated with the Office of Taxonomic and 

 Range Investigations of the Bureau of riant Industry. 



Note. — This bulletin is of general Interest, but especially to horticulturists engaged in studying varieties 

 or doing work in plum breeding. 



72210°— Bull. 172—15 1 



