NATIVE AMERICAN SPECIES OF PRUNUS. 49 
ripening at the same time and being scarcely distinguishable in color 
and shape from that of P. orthosepala. It is about 3 cm. long and 
nearly the same in diameter, being slightly larger than the fruit of the 
latter species and with a longer stone. (Pl. XIII, fig. 2.) 
A plum very similar to if not identical with at least some of the 
above was first brought into cultivation by Abram Laire, a few miles 
south of Kirwin, in the southern part of Philips County, Kans. 
(fig. 2). Mr. Laire was interviewed in September, 1910, and the fol- 
lowing account of the variety known as Laire (PI. XIII, figs. 3 to 5) 
was obtained. About the year 1878 (Mr. Laire is uncertain whether 
it may not have been a year or two later than that date) he and his 
son brought in from a wild state from various localities along Bow 
Creek a number of young plum trees. Among these trees when they 
fruited he discovered perhaps half a dozen trees that produced fruit 
of superior quality, and these were then noticed to have different 
foliage from either the sand plum or Prunus americana. Mr. Laire 
was, however, unable to rediscover the thicket from which they were | 
obtained, although his son believes them to have been secured from 
a thicket in a pasture not far distant which had later been destroyed 
by cattle. E. Bartholomew, of Stockton, Kans., estimated in 1910 
that there were at least 100,000 trees of this variety under cultivation 
in that part of Kansas, but he has never observed it in a wild state. 
The variety Laire, as it grows in Kansas, is a larger tree than 
Prunus orthosepala, and the serrations of the leaves are distinctly 
rounded. The flowers appear identical with those of the latter 
species, except in the usually, though not always, shorter pedicels 
and in the length of the calyx lobes, which are slightly shorter, show- 
_ ing in these respects, as in the more rounded serrations of the leaves, 
a closer approach to the sand plum. The fruit is nearly globose, 
dark red with a distinct bloom, and ripens in September. The Laire 
also suckers badly, while P. orthosepala does not appear to do so, 
though possibly if grown under the same conditions as regards culti- 
vation it might show that character. 
The fact that all this closely related material came to notice about 
1880 suggested that possibly Prunus orthosepala might have been of 
Kansas origin and led to a careful examination of Dr. Engelmann’s 
notes and some of his correspondence, but without discovering 
anything concerning the origin of this species or, in fact, without 
finding mention of any form that could be interpreted as referring 
to it. 
Prunus orthosepala, as it grows in the Arnold Arboretum and in 
Mr. Kerr’s nursery, bears rather sparingly, but Mr. Kerr suggests that 
this may be due to the want of proper pollinizers. A specimen in 
Highland Park, Rochester, N. Y., where a number of other species are 
74246°—Bull. 179—15——4 
