448 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
XXXVI. i. THE PLUM TREE. PRUNUS. L. 
This genus is distinguished by its drupe, which is ovate or 
oblong, fleshy, very smooth, covered with a glaucous or bluish 
powder; with the nut compressed, acute at both ends, smooth, 
and not porous or furrowed, except by a slight furrow along the 
margins. Itcontains low trees, with deciduous leaves which are 
folded together in the bud,—natives of North America, Hurope 
and Asia, many of them thorny in a wild state. They have 
showy flowers in fascicles or sessile umbels, rarely solitary, in 
the axil of the last year’s leaves; and most of them bear edible 
fruits. The most highly valued cultivated plum trees are orig- 
inally trom the Kast, where they have been known from time 
immemorial. In many countries of eastern Europe, domestic 
animals are fattened on their fruits; and an alcoholic liquor 
called Rafi is obtained from them; as is Zwetschen- Wasser, 
in Germany: and they yield a white, crystallizable sugar. 
They thrive best on calcareous soils, but will grow in any 
soil tolerably free, and not over moist, especially with a sub- 
soil of clay. 
Most or all the cultivated plums, damsons and gages, are 
varieties of the Prunus doméstica, L., the cultivated Plum Tree. 
It is characterized by having its branches without thorns, leaves 
lanceolate or oval, concave on the surface, usually acute; and 
flowers mostly solitary. It is found growmg wild in elevated 
situations i southern Europe.—(D C. Prod. 533.) This spe- 
cles, as also P. znstititia, the Bullace Plum, are considered by 
some botanists as varieties of the Sloe Thorn, P. spinosa, which 
is usually a thorny shrub or small tree. 
The wood of all the kinds of the plum is compact, close- 
grained, hard, and beautifully veined, and takes a fine polish. 
It is much valued and used by turners, cabinetmakers and mu- 
sical instrument makers, on the continent of Europe, and, in 
England, the wood of the sloe is used for handles of tools, teeth 
of rakes, and other small articles, and for walking-sticks. 
