154 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. I, No. 2 
Flowers white, appearing with the leaves, fascicled on short pubescent peduncles, 
perfect, highly fragrant; calyx cup campanulate, pubescent without, nectariferous 
within, with glandular serrate lobes; ovary finely pubescent. 
Fruit 1.5 cm. to 2.5 cm. long, pubescent, the juicy, fragrant, highly flavored 
flesh clinging to the stone by a persistent velvety pile; stone rounded, smooth or 
scarcely furrowed. 
One species: Prunus texana Dietr. 
SECTION PENARMENIACA, N. SECT. 
Dense shrubs with angled and thorny branches or of more smooth and erect arbores¬ 
cent growth reaching 3 meters in height; young twigs glabrous, reddish or yellow 
brown. 
heaves convolute in vernation, glabrous, more or less glandular serrate, with 
stomates in the upper epidermis. 
Flowers rose colored, pale pink, or rarely white, solitary or in fascicles of two or 
three, on stalks from 5 to 15 mm. in length; stamens 20 or 30, inserted near the rim 
of the calyx cup; calyx cup campanulate, with nectariferous lining; pistil as long 
or longer than the stamens; ovary and base of style pubescent. 
Fruit oval or subglobose, 1 to 2 cm. long, pubescent, somewhat fleshy while imma¬ 
ture, harsh and astringent but with an acid, fruity flavor, opening along suture when 
mature; stone thick walled, furrowed, with obscure reticulations or smooth or 
somewhat pitted; kernel in some varieties edible, often strongly flavored with prussic 
acid. 
Two species: Prunus andersonii Gray and Prunus eriogyna , n. sp. 
THE WILD PEACH 
The earlier botanical descriptions of the important species Prunus 
texana are so meager that the following description in greater detail 
seems necessary: 
Prunus texana Dietr. 1 
Amygdalus glandulosa Hooker, Icon. PI., v. 3, pi. 288, 1840. 
Prunus glandulosa (Hooker) Torr. and Gray, FI. N. A., v. 1, p. 408, 1840. 
Prunus texana Dietr., Syn. pi., v. 3, p. 45, 1843. 
Prunus Hookeri Schneider, Daubhk., v. i, L,fg. 5, p. 597-598, fig. 335, i, k, 1 , 1906. 
Amygdalus texana (Dietr.) W. F. Wight, Dudley Mem. Vol., p. 131, 1913. 
Illus. Hooker, loc. cit.; Schneider, loc. cit. 
Low, squarrose shrubs, sometimes reaching a height of 2 meters, with a spread 
of 2 to 2.5 meters; stems usually slender but occasionally erect and stout branches > 
rarely spinescent; bark dark iron gray, roughly furrowed on old wood, on young growth 
grayish brown or silvery gray, densely pubescent. 
The leaves, conduplicate in the bud, are usually narrowly elliptical, with rounded 
apex and rounded or wedge-shaped base; thick, strongly veined, serrate or crenately 
doubly serrate, with glandular teeth, dull green, thickly pubescent above, canes- 
cent beneath, 1.5 to 4 cm. long, 6 to 18 mm. broad; petiole short, rather thick, 
stipules 3 to 4 mm. long, narrowly lanceolate, with glandular teeth. 
The small flowers, which appear with the leaves in February and March, are 
fragrant, perfect, 1 to 1.5 cm. broad, borne singly or in fascicles of two or three on 
short, finely pubescent peduncles; the campanulate calyx tube is finely pubescent, 
1 There being a Prunus glandulosa of Thunberg, 1784, Hooker’s Amygdalus glandulosa can not be trans¬ 
ferred to the genus Prunus and the name Prunus texana , given by David Dietrich (Synopsis plantarum, v. 
3, Vimariae, 1843, p. 45), has priority and is a most appropriate one, as this interesting species has so far 
been found only within the limits of Texas. This conclusion as to the priority of Dietrich’s specific name 
is confirmed and published by Dr. C. S. Sargent in Trees and Shrubs, v. 2, pt. 3, Boston, June, 1911. 
