THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 35 



include in it, among cultivated plums, the BuUaces and the Damsons, 

 plums which differ only in the shape of the fruit, the former being round 

 and the latter oval. Some of the texts noted in the references for this 

 species also place the St. Julien and the Mirabelle plums here. In The 

 Plums of New York the authors consider the BuUaces, Damsons, the St. 

 Julien and the Mirabelles as belonging to this species. 



It is true that Linnaeus established at an earlier date than the naming 

 of Prunus insititia his Prunus domestica damascena, in which the varietal 

 name indicates that he meant the Damsons, but the description of the 

 variety taken by him from Bauhin's Pinax ■ making the plum large, 

 sweet and dark purplish, cannot be made to apply to this fruit, nor can 

 it be connected definitely with any other plum; this being true, and since 

 Linnaeus refers to no type specimen, figure, or locality, his Prunus domestica 

 damascena according to current botanical practices in America, should be 

 rejected. 



The trees of the Insititia varieties are readily distinguished from the 

 Domestica sorts in having a dwarfer and more compact habit; much 

 smaller and more ovate leaves with more closely serrate margins ; branches 

 more finely divided, more slender, with shorter joints, and bearing spines 

 or spinescent spurs; having a more abundant and a more clustered inflo- 

 rescence, with smaller flowers, a glabrous instead of a pubescent pistil and 

 caljrx-tube ; reflexed calyx-lobes where in Domestica they are often erect ; 

 and flowers appearing nearly a week later. The number of stamens in Prunus 

 domestica averages about thirty; in Prunus insititia, about twenty-five. 

 The fr\ait -characters of Prunus insititia are even more distinctive. The 

 fruits are smaller, being less than an inch in diameter, more nearly round 

 or oval, more uniform in shape, never strongly compressed as in Domes- 

 tica, with a less distinct suture and more often with a pronounced neck. 

 The color is usually the Damson pxu"ple or the Mirabelle yellow, with no 

 intermediate colors as in Domestica and with few or but slight variations 

 as compared with the other species. The plums are sweet or sour with 

 a very much smaller range in flavor in the case of the Insititias and withal 

 very distinct from that of Prunus domestica. The stones are smaller, more 

 oval and much more swollen. 



In variability the Insititia plums are quite the reverse of the Domes- 

 ticas, almost wholly lacking this quality. These plums have been culti- 

 vated over two thousand years, yet there is seemingly little difference 



• Bauhin Pin. 443 n 23. 



