Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. I, No. 2 
156 
DISTRIBUTION AND SOIU * 
The range of the wild peach is wholly within the State of Texas, but 
its local distribution is not yet worked out. As shown by the map 
(fig. 2), there are two principal areas of its growth. The first of these is 
what is called the “Burnet Country/' a region of granitic uplift occupy¬ 
ing the greater portion of Llano County, and small areas of Burnet, San 
Saba, Mason, Gillespie, and Blanco counties. It is also found along a 
narrow alluvial strip next to the Colorado River in Lampasas County. 
It is upon the sedentary soils from granitic disintegration, small areas 
from sandstone and schistose rocks of the earlier stratified formations 
bordering and upturned by the granitic protrusions, and on narrow 
strips of river alluvium that the “wild peach” occurs. Only one instance 
is known of its occurrence upon the calcareous areas which surround and 
in isolated patches overlap the granitic protrusions. 
The second considerable area known for this species lies in the south¬ 
eastern part of Bexar County and in the adjacent counties of Guadalupe, 
Wilson, and Atascosa, extending eastward into Gonzales and southward 
into Bee County. As this region is a part of the area of sandstone forma¬ 
tion known geologically as the Marine Eocene region and the plants are 
found only on rather mellow sandy soils, we must conclude that the species 
has so strong a preference for granitic or sandy soils as to practically 
exclude it from limestone regions. It was learned in the neighborhood 
of Lavemia that extensive areas of this “May plum," as it is called in 
that section, had been destroyed in the clearing up of fields. Isolated 
patches have been found at points as remotely separated as Van Zandt 
County at the north, the coast dunes of Aransas County, and a consider¬ 
able area in the sandhills of Hidalgo County at the south, where the 
fruit is much esteemed by the Mexicans under the name “durasnillo,” 
or “little peach.” 1 It seems probable that a more complete survey of 
the eastern portions of the State would show that the wild peach has a 
botanical range extending over a greater portion of the sandy formation 
of the Marine Tertiary region, restricted probably by lack of moisture in 
the southwest portion of that formation. 
All the plants studied have a deep-rooting habit, enabling them to 
penetrate to layers of soil where the moisture is fairly permanent as is often 
the case where the soil has a sandy foundation. This aids them greatly 
in surviving the long periods of drought to which the country is subject. 
The thickly pubescent upper surface of the leaves and the almost felted 
undersurface are features which reduce transpiration and must aid 
materially in drought resistance. 
1 Prof. S. W. Stanfield, of the Texas State Normal School, states that in southern Bexar County this fruit 
is called “albaricoque,” which is the Spanish name for the apricot. 
