48 THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 



The hardiness, thriftiness, freedom from disease and adaptability 

 to soils make the species desirable for hybridizing. A ntimber of breeders 

 of plums have made use of it with some indications of a promising future, 

 several interesting hybrid offspring of this species being described in 

 The Plums of New York. 



The small number of varieties of Cerasifera cultivated for their fruit 

 indicates that but little can be expected from this species by plum-growers, 

 since so little has come from it in the shape of edible fruits, though it 

 has been under general cultivation for over three hundred years, at least, 

 as an ornamental and as a stock. Several valuable groups of orna- 

 mentals have arisen from Cerasifera, of which the following are most notable : — 



In 1880 M. Pissard, gardener to the Shah of Persia, sent to France 

 a purple-leaved plum which proved to be a form of Prunus cerasifera. 

 To this plum Dippel ' gave the name Prunus cerasifera atropurpurea, while 

 horticulturists very generally call it Prunus pissardi. A close study of 

 the ptirple-leaved plum reveals no character in which it differs from the 

 species except in the color of foliage, flowers and fruit; the leaves are 

 purple, as are also the calyx and peduncles of the flowers, while the fruit 

 is a dark wine-red. These are but horticultural characters and do not 

 seem to be of sufficient importance to establish for this plant a botanical 

 variety. This view is strengthened by the fact that Jack ' reports that 

 seeds from the purple -leaved pltim have produced plants which agree in 

 all essential particulars with the species ; while Kerr ' has grown a purple- 

 leaved plum from a variety of Prunus cerasifera. 



Besides this well-known purple-leaved plum nurserymen offer Prunus 

 pendula, a weeping form; Prunus planteriensis, bearing double white and 

 red flowers; Prunus acutifolia, a plum with narrow, willow -like leaves; 

 Prunus contorta, characterized by twisted, contorted foliage ; Prunus 

 elegans, Prunus gigantea, and a variety with yellow and another with 

 variegated leaves, etc. All of these are probably horticultural varieties 

 of Prunus cerasifera though some of them cannot be classified with surety. 



Schneider * calls Prunus dasycarpa Ehrhart,' the Prunus armeniaca 

 dasycarpa of Borkhausen,' a cross between Prunus cerasifera and Prunus 

 armeniaca, one of the apricots. 



'Dippel Handb. Laubh. 3:633. 1893. 



'Jack Gar. and For. 5:64. 1892. 



' Bailey Cornell Sta. Bui. 38:34. 1892. 



* Handb. Laubh. 1:633. 1906. 



^ Beitr. Nat. 6:go. 1791. 



" Handb. Forstb. \i:i2,<)2. 1803. 



