WILD PLUM. 321 
Distribution. —At least quite common in the southern half of 
Minnesota. 
Uses.—Valuable for hedges and as a lawn tree in good soil. 
The wood is heavy, hard and strong, and is often used for walk- 
ing sticks and firewood. 
Genus PRUNUS. 
Shrubs or trees with alternate, simple leaves. Flowers with, 
calyx that is deciduous after flowering; a single pistil with a 
superior ovary containing a pair of ovules and becoming a 
single drupe or stone fruit. This genus comprises some of our 
most valued fruits, such as the Plum, Peach, Cherry, Apricot 
and Nectarine, and ornamental plants such as the Double Flow- 
ering Almond. All the species here referred to are ornamental 
when in flower. 
This genus seems to divide more or less into two groups, 
which are distinguished by the form of inflorescence, one group 
bearing its flowers in racemes and the other in umbels. It is 
of interest to notice that it is difficult, if not quite impossible, 
to graft or bud trees of the different groups together, while 
within each group trees of the different species can be grafted 
quite readily. 
Prunus americana. Wild Plum. 
Leaves oval or slightly obovate. Flowers appear when the 
leaves are about one-half unfolded. Fruit large, colored with 
red and yellow, often with a heavy bloom; generally ascerb but 
frequently good; the parent of our cultivated sorts such as 
Rollingstone, Wolf, Forest Garden, De Soto, Cheney and 
others; ripens August to September. A small thorny tree, 
seldom over twenty feet high, and generally found growing 
in thickets. A form of this that flowers very early and has 
fruit with a thin pit is considered a variety or perhaps a separate 
species. (P. nigra.) ‘The Aitkin Plum comes under this head. 
Distribution.—It is found from New York and New Jersey to 
Nebraska and the upper Missouri Valley south to northern 
Mexico and western Florida. In Minnesota throughout the 
state, in thickets along banks of streams. ' 
Propagation.—Grown from the seeds, which should not be 
allowed to become hard and dry, but should be stratified if they 
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