NATIVE AMERICAN SPECIES OF PRUNUS. 55 
by William M. Canby, B. F. Bush, and C. S. Sargent, are in the her- 
barium of the Arnold Arboretum. 
This form is distributed through western Mississippi, Louisiana, and 
southern Arkansas to the vicinity of Marshall, Tex., the type locality. 
Prunus Maritimma Marsh.! 
(Beach plum.) 
Prunus maritima Marsh., 1785, Arb. Amer., p. 112. 
Prunus pygmaea Willd., 1796, Berl. Baumz., p. 248. 
Prunus sphaerocarpa Michx., 1803, Fl. Bor. Amer., t. 1, p. 248. 
Prunus acuminata Michx., 1803, Fl. Bor. Amer., t. 1, p. 284. 
Prunus sphaerica Willd., 1811, Berl. Baumz., Ausg. 2, p. 315. 
Prunus pubescens Pursh., 1814, Fl. Amer., Sept., v. 1, p. 331. 
Prunus littoralis Bigel., 1824, Fl. Bost., ed. 2, p. 193. 
Prunus pubigera Steud., 1841, Nom. Bot., ed. 2, part 2, p. 404. 
Leaves ovate, elliptic, or rarely somewhat obovate (Pl. V, fig. 1), 
narrowed toward the base and acute at the apex, 4 to 6.5 cm. long, 
2 to 4 cm. broad, the margin evenly and sharply serrate, dull green 
and glabrous or neariy so above, pale and soft-pubescent, some- 
times appearing grayish below, often with a gland on either side near 
the base of the blade; petioles rather stout, 4 to 6 mm. long, pubes- 
cent. Flowers 12 to 14 mm. broad, in umbels of 2 to 3, appearing 
before the leaves, in May or early in June; pedicels and calyx rather 
strongly pubescent, pedicels 5 or usually 7 mm. long; calyx tube 
campanulate, about 2 mm. long, the oblong obtuse lobes as long as 
the tube, entire or dentate at the apex, eglandular, pubescent within 
withrather short hairs; petals oblong o1 oblong-ovate, about 7 mm. long, 
4mm. broad, abruptly narrowed to a claw. Fruit globose or slightly 
flattened at the ends, about 15 mm. in diameter, dull purple, with a 
heavy bloom, sometimes crimson or even yellow, ripening in August 
on the New Jersey coast and in September on the coast of Massachu- 
setts, flesh sweet; stone ovate and turgid (Pl. XII, figs. 14 to 17), 
about 10 mm. long, 9 mm. broad, and 6 mm. thick, truncate or rounded 
at the base, usually pointed at the apex, a little narrowed on the 
ventral edge with a groove on either side, obscurely grooved along 
the dorsal edge, the surface usually slightly reticulate. 
Prunus maritima is a straggling shrub mostly 3 to 6 or rarely 8 feet 
high, with the lower branches decumbent or often prostrate; bark 
very dark gray or brownish, usually marked with numerous round, 
sometimes raised, yellowish lenticels; young twigs usually pubescent. 
The species is distributed (fig. 3) in sandy soil near the seacoast from 
1 The authority usually given for this species is Wangenheim (1781, p. 103). This author published (74) in 
1781 Beschreibung einiger Nordamericanischer Holz- und Buscharten, mit Anwendung auf teutsche Forsten. 
Two copies of this work have been carefully searched, but without finding any trace of the name Prunus 
maritima. In another work (75), published in 1787, Wangenheim describes this species on page 103. It 
seems probable that an error has been made in the date of Wangenheim’s publication and that Marshall 
is really the author of the species. 
