NATIVE AMEBICAN SPECIES OP PEUNUS. 25 



the leaves from the first week in April in the South to the latter part 

 of May and before the leaves in the northern part of its range; pedicels 

 slender, mostly 7 to 15 mm. long, glabrous; calyx tube obconic and 

 about 3 mm. long, glabrous or inconspicuously pubescent, the lobes 

 as long or shghtlv longer than the tube, lanceolate or oblong-lanceo- 

 late, obtuse or sometimes acute, obscurely glandular on the margin 

 mainly above the middle, or sometimes egiandular, dentate toward 

 the apex, glabrous or inconspicuously pubescent on the outer and 

 soft -pubescent on the inner surface, reflexed at anthesis; petals 

 oblong-oval or obovate and narrowed to a claw, mostly 8 to 10 mm. 

 long, 4.5 to 6 mm. broad, entire or obscurely erose toward the apex, 

 sometimes shghtly ciliate near the base. Fruit extremely variable 

 in the time of ripening, ranging from early in July in the South and 

 from the end of August to early October in the North, subglobose or 

 sometimes even somewhat oblate to slightly elongated, 1.8 to 2.5 cm. 

 long, varying from reddish orange to red, marked with numerous 

 minute, whitish dots and with a bluish bloom or sometimes nearly 

 destitute of bloom, skin rather thick and tough, flesh yellow; stone 

 (PI. VIII, figs. 1 to 16) oval, turgid, 13.5 to 16 mm. long, 10 to 14 

 mm. broad, narrowed at the base and pointed or sometimes rounded 

 at the apex, grooved on either side a short distance from the ventral 

 edge, sometimes also with a shght ridge on either side and a shallow 

 groove along the ventral edge as on the dorsal, the surface smooth 

 or sometimes obscurely rugose. 



The tree reaches a maximum height of about 35 feet with a trunk 

 diameter of about 12 inches. It sometimes grows singly, but more 

 often sprouts from the roots and frequently forms thickets of consid- 

 erable extent. The branches are more or less spinescent, spreading, or 

 often somewhat drooping toward the extremities, bark of the trunk 

 dark bro\\Ti, exfoUating in platelike scales, that of the young twigs 

 chestnut colored and eventually turning dark brown; winter buds 3 

 to 4 mm. long, narrowly ovate, acute. The wood is heavy, close 

 grained, and fairly strong. 



Prunus americana is distributed (fig. 1) from central Massachusetts 

 and central New York westward to central Michigan and northern 

 Indiana, thence northwestward to the vicinity of Brandon, Manitoba. 

 It reaches its extreme western limit in the vicinity of Logan in 

 northern Utah, and occurs along the eastern foothills of the 

 Rocky Mountains in Colorado extending southward to Las Vegas 

 in New Mexico. It apparently does not occur in the dry region of 

 eastern Colorado or in the exti-eme western part of Kansas, but 

 farther east it cxtrinds Houtiiwaid to southern Kansas and tlii-ough 

 central Mi.ssouri, while east of the Mississippi Jiiver it extends south- 

 ward nearly to th<! (iulf, in Mississijjj)! and Alabama. It is found in 

 nortiiein I'ioiida, but docs not occur in tiui ])cninsular part of the 



