TREES AND SHRUBS. 



PKTWUS PALMERI, Sakg. 



Prunus (Prunophora) Palmeri, n. sp. 



Leaves ovate to oblong-obovate, abruptly acuminate and long-pointed at the apex, narrowed 

 and cuneate or rounded at the base, and coarsely often doubly serrate with acuminate glandular 

 teeth j when they unfold covered above by short caducous hairs and below by long white spreading 

 hairs developed only from the midribs, veins and veinlets, and at maturity thin, light yellow- 

 green and glabrous on the upper surface, paler and sparingly villose on the lower surface along 

 the slender midribs and primary veins, from 6 to 7.5 centimetres long and from 3 to 4 centi- 

 metres wide ; petioles slender, pubescent, usually eglandular or furnished with an occasional oblong 

 gland, from 1.2 to 1.5 centimetres in length; stipules linear, acuminate, occasionally three-lobed, 

 villose, sparingly glandular. Flowers about 1.8 centimetres in diameter, on slender glabrous 

 pedicels from 1 to 1.2 centimetres in length, in from two- to five-flowered umbels; calyx-tube nar- 

 rowly obconic, puberulous, the lobes long, acuminate, entire, ciliate on the margins, puberulous 

 and more or less tinged with red on the outer surface, covered on the inner surface with matted pale 

 hairs ; petals oblong-obovate, narrowed and rounded at the apex, gradually narrowed below into 

 a long claw, usually crenulate toward the apex ; stamens about twenty-five ; anthers yellow ; style 

 elongated, exceeding the stamens. Fruit on drooping glabrous pedicels, oval, deep pink to crimson, 

 covered with a glaucous bloom, often 2.5 centimetres long and 2 centimetres in diameter, with 

 thick flesh of good quality ; stone oblong, compressed, rounded at the base, pointed and apiculate 

 at the apex, ridged on the dorsal edge with a thin narrow ridge, thin and slightly grooved on the 

 ventral edge. 



A tree, sometimes 7 or 8 metres high, with a tall trunk often 1.5 metres in diameter, covered 

 with pale gray-brown bark exfoliating in large thin scales, small erect branches, and slender 

 unarmed branchlets light yellow-green and puberulous when they first appear, soon glabrous, light 

 orange-brown during their first season, and dark red-brown the following year. Winter-buds 

 acute, from 3 to 4 millimetres long, with light chestnut-brown puberulous scales ciliate on the 

 margins. The flowers appear from the 10th to the middle of April with the unfolding leaves. 

 Fruit ripens the middle of August. 



Missouri : rich rocky hillsides in limestone soil, near Carterville, Jasper County, E. J. Palmer, 

 April 11 and June 15, 1909, April 14, 1910 (No. 6, type), P. L. Bicker, April 16, 1910 (No. 

 3397) ; Smithfield, Jasper County, in rich alluvial soil, E. J. Palmer, June 13, 1909, April 23 

 and 24, 1911 (No. 13, shrub-like in habit and with smaller subglobose fruit). 



This species does not produce the suckers which are always developed by Prunus americana Marshall. From Prunus 

 arkansana Sargent it differs in the shape of its thinner leaves, in their pale, not rusty hairs, its puberulous calyx and 

 narrow petals, smaller fruit, and in the less developed dorsal ridge of the stone. From Prunus polyandra Sargent it 

 differs in the shape of the more compressed stone, that of Prunus polyandra being obovate, abruptly pointed at the 

 apex, acute at the base, and prominently ridged on the dorsal edge. From Prunus reticulata Sargent it differs in 

 the shape of its much thinner leaves, inconspicuous veinlets, larger flowers, larger and early-ripening fruit, and com- 

 pressed stones. From these species it differs, too, in its pale scaly not dark brown deeply furrowed bark. From Prunus 

 tenulfolia, which also has pale bark, it differs in its larger flowers without the long hairs at the base of the calyx, in the 

 shape and pubescence of the leaves and in the shape of the stones. 1 



i Mr. E. J. Palmer has found in the neighborhood of Webb City, Jasper County, Missouri, a form of Prunus hortulana Bailey 

 with leaves covered on the upper surface with short white hairs and villose on the lower surface especially on the midribs 



