TWO DRUPACEOUS TREES FROM ALABAMA 



Primus (Padus) australis n. sp. 



A tree io-2o m tall with a trunk sometimes 3~4 dm in diameter, 

 clothed with ashy-gray or brownish-black bark, the surface of 

 which, on the trunk, is fissured and reticulately broken into thin 

 persistent scales : branches spreading or ascending, forming an 

 oblong crown : leaves obovate, oval or elliptic, the blades 4-io cm 

 long, 2-6 cm wide, abruptly and rather bluntly pointed at the apex, 

 or occasionally obtuse, either rounded or obtusely narrowed at the 

 base, the borders finely serrate ; they are dark green and smooth 

 on the upper surface at maturity, densely and permanently clothed 

 on the lower surface with tawny or rufous tomentum, not at all 

 glaucous, and at the time of unfolding are light green, glabrous 

 above except a few pale hairs along the midrib, densely coated on 

 the lower surface with pale or tawny pubescence, biglandular at 

 the base or on the petioles : petioles i cm or less long, densely 

 covered with tawny or rufous tomentum : stipules linear, 3-io mm 

 long' or more, pectinate, bright rose-purple, early deciduous: 

 raceme-rachis and pedicels as well as the young shoots, pubes- 

 cent : flowers, which open towards the end of April, borne on 

 short pedicels which arise from the axils of minute, rose-purple, 

 caducous bracts, and disposed in spreading, narrow, many-flow- 

 ered racemes 6-15°™ long: drupes globose, 5-8 mm in diameter, 

 dark purple when fully ripe, falling in July. 



Prunus [Padus) australis is common in clay soil at Evergreen, Alabama 

 (type locality). Readily distinguished from the species heretofore recognized 

 and occurring in the Southern States, and which are characterized by the pubes- 

 cence of the leaves, young shoots, racemes and pedicels, by the dense and perma- 

 nent tawny or rufous tomentum covering the entire lower surface of the leaf- 

 blades. 



The type material, which is preserved in the Biltmore Herbarium, consists of 

 vernal, late summer and autumnal specimens. 



Prunus mitis n. sp. 



A small tree or large shrub 4-8™ tall, seldom spiny, the trunk 

 or large stems clothed with dark gray or reddish-brown bark, the 



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