NATIVE AMEEICAN SPECIES OF PKUNUS. 43 



gi'een above, pale below and sparingly pubescent along the mid- 

 vein toward the base, or sometimes entirely glabrous; petioles 5 to 10 

 mm . long, usually reddish and pubescent along the upper edge, 

 glandular near the apex or egiandular; stipules linear lanceolate, 

 glandular serrate. Flowers 8 or 9 mm. broad, appearing before the 

 leaves from the middle of February in northern Florida to the fii-st 

 of April in Virginia, in umbels of 2 to 4; pedicels 3 to 6 mm. long, 

 glabrous; calyx tube obconic, glabrous, 2 to 2.5 mm. long, the ovate, 

 obtuse lobes shorter than the tube, glabrous on the outer surface, 

 glabrous within, except near the base, or inner surface sometimes 

 sparingly pubescent, the margin ciliate, egiandular; petals about 4 

 mm. long, ovate-orbicular or obovate-orbicular, abruptly contracted to 

 a claw. Fruit ripening from the first of June in the South to the mid- 

 dle of July in the northern portion of its range, subgiobose, skin thin, 

 flesh yellow, frequently of very good quality; stone oval (PI. XI, 

 figs 17 and 18), 11 or 12 mm. long, about 10 mm. broad, about 7 mm. 

 thick, obtuse at the base, obtuse or somewhat pointed at the apex, 

 rounded on the ventral edge and usually grooved on either side, 

 grooved along the dorsal edge. 



The tree is small, reaching a maxunum height of about 10 feet, or 

 more often only a shi'ub formmg dense thickets; the bark of the 

 trunk in the younger stems is dark reddish brown, rather smooth or 

 becoming shghtly fuiTowed in age. 



The species ranges (fig. 2) from the Eastern Shore of Maryland and 

 southern Delaware southward in the sandy soils of the coast region to 

 northern and central Florida and westward through Mississippi, Louis- 

 iana, and southern Arkansas to central Texas. Specimens referable to 

 this species have also been collected in western Kentucky and Ten- 

 nessee, but its occuri'ence in the former, at least as an indigenous 

 species, is to be doubted. 



Prunus angustifolia was described by Marshall, but no locality 

 was given other than "the Southern States." The specimen in the 

 Michaux herbarium in the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle labeled 

 Prunus cJdcasa is not this species and has not been definitely iden- 

 tified. The description, however, can refer to no other plant. 

 Rafinesque's Prunus stenoxjhyllus described as being from "near 

 Washita," in southern Arkansas, can not be other than this species. 

 Rafincsqiie, who evidently did not sec specimens, based his species 

 on Ctrasus cart/idensis Kobin (05, p. 495; not MiUer, 1768). 



Prunus angustifolia is much less important horticulturally than 

 either of its subspecies, and among the (;ultivat(!d varieties studied 

 few, among which are Ogcicche and Caddo Chief, can bo referred to 

 it. The fruit is small, and it is probably less hardy than either of 

 itfi subspecies. 



