492 



The Plums and Cherries 



The Woolly-leaf plum is a variety of this, or perhaps a distinct species, with 

 conspicuously hairy leaves and twigs, occurring west of the Alleghany Mountains, 

 principally in the Gulf States, and known as Prunus americana lanata Sudworth. 



7. PACIFIC PLUM— Prunus subcordata Bentham 



A low branching tree, or usually a shrub, on dry rocky hills of southern Oregon 



to middle California, reaching a maximum 

 height of 7.5 meters, with a trunk diameter of 

 3 dm. 



The branches are stout, somewhat spread- 

 ing; the bark is about 8 mm. thick, gray to 

 brown and fissured into thin, scaly plates; the 

 twigs are sometimes hairy, soon becoming 

 smooth and bright red, finally dark reddish 

 purple to brown-gray. The leaves are some- 

 what leathery, ovate to orbicular, 2.5 to 7 cm. 

 long, rounded or blunt at the apex, slightly 

 heart-shaped or roimded at the base, closely, 

 sometimes doubly toothed, dark green above, 

 paler beneath, the venation prominent beneath 

 and impressed above; the leaf-stalks are i to 5 

 cm. long. The flowers, appearing from March 

 to May, are about 2 cm. across, in nearly stalkless, 2- to 4-flowered umbels, on 

 slender pedicels 7 to 15 mm. long; the calyx- tube is bell-shaped, nearly smooth, 

 the lobes oblong, roimded and somewhat hairy; the petals are obovate, rounded; 

 the pistil and filaments are smooth. The fruit ripens in August or September, 

 is globose or oblong, 2 to 3 cm. long, dark red or sometimes yellow; the flesh is 

 juicy and pleasantly acidulous; the stone is somevdiat flattened, 1.5 to 2.5 cm. long, 

 pointed at each end, sharply ridged on one edge and grooved on the other. 



Its fruit is much gathered from wild growing trees and from selected forms 

 broughf under cultivation. The young plants are used by western nurserymen as 

 stock upon which to graft or bud better varieties of plums. The wood is hard, 

 close-grained, and pinkish brown, its specific gravity about 0.64. 



The Sisson or Sierra plum, a variety of this with nearly smooth, orbicular, not 

 heart-shaped leaves, ash-colored stems, and larger yellowish fruit, is Prunus sub- 

 cordata Kelloggii Lemmon. 



Fig. 450. — Pacific Plum. 



8. CHICKASAW PLUM — Prunus angustifolia Marshall 



Also called Mountain cherry, this is a somewhat spiny, small tree or shrub, 

 with spreading branches, often forming dense thickets in dry sandy soils, from 

 New Jersey to Florida, westward to the lower Mississippi valley, Arkansas and 



