THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 5^^ 



some of the American species being much closer. So, too, the effort, some- 

 times made, to make more than one species out of Prunus triflora is strain- 

 ing a point, for though the types tmder cultivation vary considerably 

 yet the variations are not greater than between varieties of other species of 

 the genus Prunus. 



Prunus triflora is almost certainly a native of China. According to 

 Georgeson and Sargent, who have made extensive botanical explorations 

 in the forests of Japan, there are no indigenous plum trees in that country. 

 Dr. K. Miyake, botanist at the Agricultural College of the Imperial Uni- 

 versity, Tokyo, Japan, writes to this Station,' that Prumis triflora does 

 not grow wild in Japan but was introduced there from China from two 

 to four hundred years ago. Bretschneider ' in his treatise on The Study 

 and Value of Chinese Botanical Works says that the plum has been culti- 

 vated from ancient times in China and this indicates that the original 

 habitat was in that country. Mr. F. N. Meyer, Agricultural Explorer 

 for the United States Department of Agriculture, who has made extensive 

 agricultural explorations in China, writes ' that he has seen many 

 trees of Prunus triflora cultivated in the Chekiang Province and also about 

 Canton but that he had not fotind the species growing wild. Roxburgh 

 says ' that the shrub had been " received from China into our gardens in 

 Bengal." Forbes and Hemsley ' state that varieties of this plum are cul- 

 tivated in China and that it occurs in the wild state in the mountains near 

 Peking as well as on the Tsunglin range in Shensi and Kansu. These 

 writers are, however, uncertain as to where it is truly indigenous. 



While the above and practically all evidence points to China as the 

 original home of Prunus triflora it is likely that the habitat of the species 

 cannot be accurately determined until western and southwestern China 

 have been explored by botanists, these regions as yet being almost un- 

 known to foreign scientists. 



Notwithstanding the illustrious work of Kaempfer, Thtmberg, Sie- 

 bold and Fortune in sending to Europe the choicest plants of Japan and 

 China, Prunus triflora seems to have reached the Old World through Amer- 

 ica at a very recent date. At least the species was not cultivated for its 

 fruit in Europe until introduced from the United States as Japanese plums, 



' February 23, 1909. 



'pp. 10, 45. 



» March 12, 1909. 



* Fl. Indica 501. 1824. 



'Forbes and Hemsley Jour. Linn. Soc. 23:219. 1886-88. 



