KOSB FAMILY. 145 



firm and thick in texture, very rugose, usually pubescent beneath, 

 coarsely serrate ; shoots usually downy ; fruit very various, of many 

 shapes and flavors, but mostly globular-pointed or oblong, the stone large 

 and slightly roughened or pitted. Perhaps derived from the last. 



P. ceraslfera, Ehrh. Myrobalan or Cherkt Plum. Differs from 

 the last in a more slender habit, often thorny ; flowers mostly smaller ; 

 leaves smaller, thin, smooth, and finely and closely serrate ; fruit globu- 

 lar and cherry-like, ranging from the size of a large cherry to over an 

 inch in diameter, with a depression about the stem, in various shades of 

 red or yellow. Much used for stocks, and rarely grown for its fruit. 

 Perhaps a derivative of P. spinosa. Var. Pissardi is a form with purple 

 leaves and purple-fleshed fruit. 



P. trifldra, Roxb. Japanese Plum. Strong growing tree, recently 

 imported from Japan (native to China ?) in several varieties ; flowers 

 usually densely fascicled ; leaves and shoots smooth and hard, the former 

 obovate or oblong-obovate, prominently pointed, and finely and evenly 

 serrate ; fruit usually conspicuously pointed, red, yellow, or purple, with 

 a very firm flesh and commonly a small stone. 



i- +- Native species. 



P. umbellata, Ell. Small bushy tree of the S. States ; flowers ap- 

 pearing with the leaves, 2 or 3 or more together on slender pedicels nearly 

 an inch long, rather large, white ; leaves smallish, ovate, or slightly obo- 

 vate, or sometimes short-oblong, thin and dull, closely and evenly ser- 

 rate ; fruit about three fourths of an inch in diameter, yellow, or reddish, 

 the flesh firm and austere ; stone short and turgid, cherry-like. Often 

 called Hog Plum. 



P. Americana, Marsh. Common Wild Plum. A spreading, ragged, 

 often thorny, small tree, growing along streams and in copses from W. 

 New England to Col. and Tex. ; flowers large and white on slender 

 pedicels, appearing before or with the leaves ; the latter large, obovate, 

 abruptly pointed and coarsely toothed or even jagged above, very coarsely 

 veined, never glossy or shining; fruit more or less flattened upon the 

 sides, firm and meaty, the skin tough and glaucous and never glossy, dull 

 yellow variously splashed or overlaid with dull red ; stone large and usu- 

 ally flattened, mostly nearly smooth and distinctly margined. Many 

 varieties in cultivation for their fruits. 



P. hortulana, Bailey. Wild Goose Plum. Strong, wide-spreading, 

 small trees with smooth straight twigs and a peach-like habit, wild in the 

 Mississippi Valley; flowers rather small, often very short^stalked ; leaves 

 narrow-ovate or ovate-lanceolate, thin and firm, flat, more or less peach- 

 like, smooth and usually shining, closely and obtusely glandular-serrate ; 

 fruit spherical, bright colored and glossy (lemon-yellow or brilliant red), 

 the bloom very thin, juicy, with a clinging, turgid, and roughish, small, 

 pointed stone. Many varieties in cultivation. 



P. Chicasa, Michx. (more properly P. angustif&lia). Chickasaw 

 Plum, Mountain Cherkt. Smaller tree than the last, with slender, 

 zigzag, red twigs and smaller, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate leaves 

 which are very closely and finely serrate, shining, and conduplicate or 

 trough-like in habit ; fruit small and very early, red or rarely yellow, the 

 skin thin and shining, and covered with many small light dots and a very 

 thin bloom ; the flesh soft and juicy, often stringy, closely adherent to 

 the small, broad, roughish stone. Wild from Del. S. & W., and also 

 cultivated. **£&«&; Beach Plum. 



P. maritima, Wang. A straggling, more or less decumbent bush 



from 3 to 12 feet high, growing in the sand on the seashore ; flowers 



small and pediceled, opening slightly in advance of the leaves ; the latter 



oval, thick and heavily veined, finely but sharply serrate, becoming nearly 



gray's e. f. & a. bot. — 10 



