Nov. io, 1913 
Pubescent-Fruited Species of Prunus 
159 
ness of Mr. Henry Smith the writer was shown a group of bushes located 
on the Smith ranch near the foot of Pack Saddle Mountain, about 6 miles 
from Kingsland. These had been known to a few settlers in the neigh¬ 
borhood for many years and the fruit had been carefully gathered on 
account of its value in making preserves and jam. The “ Llano ” variety, 
named and propagated for distribution by Mr. L. Miller, a nurseryman 
at Lampasas, was secured in this neighborhood and is so nearly identical 
with those seen on the Smith ranch that a separate description is scarcely 
necessary. 
The next group was located near the south line of Llano County not 
far from the Llano and Fredericksburg Road. Mr. F. M. Ramsey had 
previously discovered a bush in this region which from its appearance he 
believed to be a hybrid of the wild peach and a plum. On a trip with the 
writer in search of this plant two more were found in the same neighbor¬ 
hood. These are described in succeeding pages under the names “‘ Wil¬ 
low/' “Sumlin,” and “Holman.” They are of considerable interest as 
botanical hybrids showing the potency of the species Prunus texana 
rather than for the quality of the fruit produced. 
Having been informed that at Valley Springs, about 12 miles northwest 
of Llano, a farmer had wild peaches growing in his garden and that with 
cultivation they grew as large as plum trees, another group of hybrids 
was suspected. A visit was accordingly made to the farm of Mr. N. F. 
Gephart, an early settler in the Valley Springs district, in whose orchard 
several plum trees just ripening fruit were found to show undoubted 
evidence of Prunus texana origin. Yet three clearly distinct varieties 
could be detected. The two which are described as the “Gephart” and 
the “Johnson” are interlocking trees which Mr. Gephart states he found 
in a wild state in clearing the ground for the orchard more than 20 
years ago. 
The history of the Bolen variety, with two or three others in the 
garden, is rather obscure. Mr. Gephart states that there used to be a 
tree of this character, long since disappeared, on a near-by farm known as 
the Bolen place. He is of the impression that seeds from this original 
Bolen fruit were planted in his garden and produced one or more trees, 
which bore well for a number of years but are now dead. There are at 
present several trees very similar in character. Whether they are from 
sprouts of the original seedlings of the Bolen tree or from a second 
generation of seedlings Mr. Gephart is uncertain. Apparently the first 
cross of Prunus .texana was the original tree on the Bolen farm, from 
which the seedlings in the Gephart garden originated. 
The following year, 1911, information was received of “a plum with a 
skin like a peach” growing in an orchard near Lavemia, Wilson County, 
20 miles southeast of San Antonio, and on a visit to that place two small 
trees were found on the farm of Mr. W. J. Stuart, who reported that he 
had found a little group or thicket of these trees in a draw when clearing 
