Nov. 10,1913 
Pubescent-Fruited Species of Prunus 
173 
rather than in strictly upland conditions, though in a few instances it 
was found on high ground, where it benefited by no addition to the rain¬ 
fall by means of run-offs. 
The Texas almond is a shrub scarcely 6 meters high in its northern 
range. Where it was studied by the writer in Valverde Co., Tex., along 
the limestone washes, it frequently forms thickets from 1 to 1.6 meters 
in height, with stems 2 to 3 cm. in diameter. 
The dioecious habit of this plant is one of its most marked character¬ 
istics, when one has the opportunity of 
examining the plants in large numbers 
in its most favorable conditions. 
The bushes bearing the staminate flow¬ 
ers are much more numerous than the 
fruiting ones and the flowers more numer¬ 
ous and crowded, so that in the field it is 
generally possible to distinguish the types 
from a distance. The examination of a 
large number of plants in flower in Val¬ 
verde County failed to show a single case 
in which the flowers could be called 
polygamo-dioecious. In no case were 
hermaphrodite and unisexual flowers 
found on the same plant. Not a pistil¬ 
late flower was found with fertile stamens 
nor a staminate flower that did not have 
the pistil abortive and much reduced in 
size. 
During seasons of drought and scarcity 
of forage these bushes are browsed by 
stock on these ranges. In the suburbs of 
San Antonio, where the grazing of cows 
has been heavy on vacant lots, these 
bushes were fround cropped back to a 
very small size and nearly all affected 
with crown-gall. 
Field study of two seasons of this spe¬ 
cies in flower and fruit has furnished the material for the following 
revised description (PI. XV.): 
Fig. 7.— Prunus minutiflora Engelm.: A, 
Section of flower of pistillate form, show¬ 
ing well-developed pistil and abortive sta¬ 
mens, X 4; B, section of flower, staminate 
form, showing well-developed stamens 
and abortive pistil, X 4; C, detail of calyx 
lobes and petals. X 4. 
Prunus minutiflora Engelm. (Fig. 7.) 
Prunus minutiflora Engelm., in Gray, A., PI. Eindheim., pt. 2, Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., v. 6, p. 185,1850^ 
Cerasus minutiflora (Engelm.) Gray, in PI. Wright, pt. 1, p. 68, 1852. 
Amygdalus minutiflora (Engelm.) W. F. Wight, in Dudley Mem. Vol., p. 130, 1913. 
Illus., Schneider, C. K., Eaubhk., Efg. 5, p. 598, fig. 335, m, n, o, p. 
An erect but much-branched, angled and spiny shrub, from 0.5 to 1.6 meters high, 
stems 1 cm. to 3 cm. in diameter, forming considerable thickets along limestone 
slopes and washes in the cretaceous section of central and western Texas. 
