ROSE FAMILY 
Stamens.—Fifteen to twenty, inserted on the calyx tube ; filaments 
thread-like ; anthers purplish, introrse, two-celled; cells opening 
longitudinally. 
Pistil—Ovary one, superior, in the bottom of calyx tube, one- 
celled ; ovules two. 
Fruit.—Drupe, oblong-eval, an inch to an inch and a quarter 
long with a tough, thick, orange red skin, free from bloom, yellow 
flesh adherent to the stone. Stone oval, compressed. August, Sep- 
tember. Cotyledons thick and fleshy. 
The Canada Plum is a northern tree, which is distributed 
through the valley of the St. Lawrence and westward as far 
as Lake Manitoba; its range extends southward into New 
England, New York, and the north-western states. It is 
found in the neighborhood of streams in rich alluvial son 
and along the borders of the forest. 
The tree is small and its branches are very stiff and rigid. 
They have a fashion in their second year of putting out 
branchlets which are spines, to all intents and purposes, 
though they become leafy. 
Whoever played when a child under a wild plum tree will 
always remember the “hollow green plums” that frequently 
hung on the branches or were scattered over the ground in 
May. ‘They were of full size, pale green, leathery to the 
touch and hollow, with the exception of a few fibrous bands. 
They were, indeed, a puzzle to childish eyes, but later we 
learned that they are caused by a fungus and that they are 
called plum pockets. This disease also attacks cultivated 
plums; the young ovaries, just after the fruit sets, swell, 
often reach the size of full grown plums, become hollow and 
soon fall to the ground. 
The fruit of the Canada Plum is sold in large quantities in 
the markets of Canada and the northern states; it is eaten 
raw or cooked and is made into preserves and jellies. 
The Prunus americana, or Wild Plum, is a southern rather 
than a northern tree. Beginning from middle New _ Jer- 
sey and central New York its range extends westward to 
the foot-hills of the Rockies and southward to the mountains 
of Mexico. It has been very generally confounded with P. 
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