THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 47 



ered by some botanists to be a S3Tionym of Prunus cerasifera and by others 

 to be a botanical variety of the last named species. Ledebour, who named 

 it, fotmd it in the Trans-Caucasian region. It differs from the type only 

 in having much divided, wide-spreading and nearly prostrate branches. 

 The Pissardi plum, a purple-leaved form of this species, originated in Per- 

 sia. A plum now growing in the Arnold Arboretum raised from seed from 

 Turkestan, presiomably from wild stock, is identical with plants of Cerasi- 

 fera of European origin. And, according to Schneider," this plum is known in 

 the wild state in Caucasus, Trans-Caucasus, northern Persia and Turkestan. 



The Cerasifera plums are small trees, usually upright but in some forms 

 with spreading branches which are commonly imarmed, glabrous and 

 brownish in color. The leaves are ovate and smaller and thinner and 

 with more finely serrate margin than those of the Domestica plums. It 

 blooms prolifically and bears large, white, single or paired flowers, making 

 a most beautiful tree when in flower. The fruit is small, round, and cherry- 

 like, from half an inch to an inch in diameter, usually red but sometimes 

 yellow. The flesh is soft, sweetish or sub-acid and poor. The stone is 

 turgid, smooth and pointed. The species is variable in nearly all tree-char- 

 acters, and were it not surpassed by other plums for its fruit there would 

 undoubtedly be a great number of varieties cultivated for the markets. 

 There are, however, but few cultivated Cerasiferas, only nineteen being 

 described in The Plums of New York. It is very generally distributed 

 wherever plums are grown, because of the use to which it has been put 

 as stocks for other species. For this purpose it is held in high esteem 

 the world over. In the nurseries of New York it is now used more than 

 any other stock and it is common to find it fruiting here and there from 

 plants set for or used as stocks. In fact practically all the cultivated 

 varieties have arisen as survivals of plants meant for stocks. It is almost 

 certain that the Cerasifera, or Myrobalan, as it is universally known by 

 horticulturists, dwarfs the cion and that it is not equally well suited to all 

 varieties; but it does not "sprout" as badly as some other stocks, is 

 adapted to many soils, and the young trees grow well and are rapidly 

 budded, giving at the start a strong and vigorous orchard tree. 



The Cerasifera plums are handsome trees. The foliage is a fresh and 

 beautiful green and whether covered with a mass of flowers or loaded 

 with red or yellow fruit these plums are as handsome as any of our culti- 

 vated fruit trees, and as desirable for ornamentals. 



' Schneider Handb. Laubh. 632. igo6. 



