BULLETIN OF THE 
31 
No. 172 
Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry, Wm. A. Taylor, Chief 
March 13, 1915. 
(PROFESSIONAL PAPER.) 
THE VARIETIES OF PLUMS DERIVED FROM 
NATIVE AMERICAN SPECIES. 1 
By W. F. Wight. 
Botanist, Office of Horticultural and Pomological Investigations. 2 
INTRODUCTION. 
The development from the wild condition and the introduction 
into cultivation of the varieties of plums enumerated in the following 
pages have taken place within the last hundred years, much the 
larger proportion even within the past fifty years. For various 
reasons many of the varieties never attained more than a local repu- 
tation, while others did not remain long in general cultivation. 
There are sections of the country where selection must be exer- 
cised even with native species in order to secure a tree of sufficient 
hardiness to withstand the strain of increased production when 
placed under cultivation. Some are lacking in the quality of the 
fruit, others are too susceptible to fungous troubles to make them 
profitable, while doubtless many have been tried in regions adapted 
to the growing of varieties of Old World species, where the natives 
proved disappointing in comparison. Nevertheless, in other sections 
the natives will probably be the main dependence, either as pure 
species or as hybrids with Old World forms. 
No other native North American fruit, with the exception of the 
grape, has given rise to so many varieties as the plum. Not all of 
these have been derived from the same wild species, and the varieties 
belonging to a given form are mainly the ones best adapted to the 
region in which the parent species is native. A knowledge of the 
i A botanical discussion of the native species of plums is given in U. S. Department of Agriculture Bul- 
letin No. 179, entitled "Native American Species of Prunus." 
2 This paper was prepared in 1911, while the writer was associated with the Office of Taxonomic and 
Range Investigations of the Bureau of riant Industry. 
Note.— This bulletin is of general interest, but especially to horticulturists engaged in studying varieties 
or doing work in plum breeding. 
72210°— Bull. 172—15 1 
