WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



407 



Distribution in West Virginia. — Borders of streams and glades. 



Thinly scattered over the State. 

 Wood. — Heavy, close-grained, dark. 



Uses. — AYood very rarely used. Fruit often eaten raw or cooked. 



PRUNUS PENNSYLVANICA, L. Wild Red Cherry. 

 "Bird Cherry." "Fire Cherry." 



Geographic Distrihution. 



Newfoundland to the shores of Hudson's Bay, and westward 

 in British America to the eastern slopes of the Coast Range of 

 British Columbia in the valley of the Frazer river, and south- 

 ward through the northern states to Pennsylvania, central 

 Michigan, northern Illinois, central Iowa, and to the high 

 mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee and on the east- 

 ern slopes of the Rocky mountains of Colorado; common in all 

 the forest regions of the extreme northern states, growing in 

 moist rather rich soils; often occupying to the exclusion of 

 other trees large areas cleared by fire of the original forest 

 covering; common and attaining its largest size on the western 

 slopes of the Big Smoky mountains in Tennessee. 



Distribution in West Virginia. — Frequent in burnt lands at 

 high elevations. Less common on lower ground. Found 

 in Grant, Pendleton, Preston, Monongalia, Tucker, Ean- 

 dolph, Upshur, Webster, Pocahontas, Nicholas, and Green- 

 brier. 



Wood. — Light, soft, close-grained, not durable. 



Uses. — Wood of little value. Profitable as a covering for burnt 

 lands. 



PRUNUS SEROTINA, Ehrh. Wild Black Cherry. 



Geographic Distribution. 



Nova Scotia vrestward through the Canadian provinces to the 

 northern shore of Lake Superior and southward through the 

 eastern states to the shores of Matanzas Inlet and Tampa Bay, 

 Florida, and westward to Dakota, eastern Nebraska and Kan- 

 sas, the Indian Territory and eastern Texas; on the mountain 

 ranges of western Texas, southern New Mexico and Arizona, 

 and southward to Columbia and Peru; in the United States 

 usually in rich moist soil; once very abundant in the Appa- 

 lachian region, reaching its greatest size on the slopes of the 

 high Allegany mountains from West Virginia to Georgia and 

 Alabama; sometimes on low sandy soil, and often in New Eng- 



