2 THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 



in Prunus. Linnaeus adopted the name used by his predecessors for the 

 plum alone, for a genus in which he also placed plums and cherries. Adan- 

 son and Jussieu returned to the pre-Linnaean classification but Gaertner 

 followed the grouping of Linnaeus. Necker, DeCandoUe, Roemer and 

 Decaisne held that the plum alone belongs in Prunus. Bentham & Hooker, 

 Gray and his co-workers in the several revisions of his botany, and Engler 

 & Prantl, great authorities of the Nineteenth Century, extend the genus 

 to include all of the stone-fruits. On the other hand, Britton and Brown, 

 in their recent flora of northern United States and of Canada restrict the 

 group to plums and cherries. Horticulturists have been less divided in 

 their opinions than the botanists and have very generally placed all of 

 the stone-fruits in one genus. The diversity of views as to what plants 

 belong in Prunus, indicated above, suggests that the differences separating 

 the several stone-fruits may not be many nor very distinct. This is true, 

 and makes necessary a discussion of the characters which distinguish 

 these fruits. 



The flowers of true pltims are borne on stems in fascicled umbels 

 and appear either before the leaves or with or after them. Flowers of the 

 cultivated cherries are similarly borne, though the fascicles are corymbose 

 rather than umbelliferous. But apricot, peach and almond flowers are 

 stemless or nearly so and solitary or borne in pairs appearing before the leaves. 



The fruits of plums and cherries are globular or oblong, fleshy, 

 very juicy, with smooth or slightly hairy skins. Peaches, apricots and 

 almonds are more sulcate or grooved than plums and cherries and the 

 first two have juicy flesh, but that of the almond is dry and hard or skin- 

 like, splitting at maturity thereby liberating the stone ; these last three 

 fruits are distinguished from plums and cherries by having very pubescent 

 or velvety skins though rarely, as in the nectarine, a botanical variety of 

 the peach, and in a few cultivated apricots, the skins are smooth. 



The stone of the plum is usually compressed, longer than broad, smooth 

 or roughened,' thickish and with an acute margin along the ventral suture 

 and thinnish or grooved on the dorsal suture. The stone of the cherry 

 is usually globular, always much thickened, smooth or a very little rough- 

 ened, ridged and grooved on the ventral suture, with a thin, scarcely raised 

 sharp margin on the dorsal suture. The stone of the apricot is similar 

 to that of the plum though thicker walled, with a more conspicuous winged 

 margin, and is sometimes pitted. The stone of the peach is compressed, 

 usually with very thick walls, much roughened and deeply pitted. In 



