pecially seeds of
several species abounding in prussic acid; leaves simple, alternate,
mostly serrate; stipules small, soon falling; leafstalk often with one
to several glands; flowers in umbels, racemes, or solitary, regular;
calyx tube free from the ovary, 5-lobed; petals 5, inserted on the
calyx; stamens indefinite, distinct, inserted with the petals; pistil 1,
ovary with 1 carpel, 1-seeded; fruit a more or less fleshy drupe.

=Prunus nigra, Ait.=

_Prunus Americana_, var. _nigra, Waugh._

WILD PLUM. RED PLUM. HORSE PLUM. CANADA PLUM.

=Habitat and Range.=--Native along streams and in thickets, often
spontaneous around dwellings and along fences.

From Newfoundland through the valley of the St. Lawrence to Lake
Manitoba.

Maine,--abundant in the northern sections and common throughout; New
Hampshire and Vermont,--frequent, especially in the northern sections;
Massachusetts,--occasional; Rhode Island and Connecticut,--not reported.

Rare south of New England; west to Wisconsin.

=Habit.=--A shrub or small tree, 20-25 feet high; trunk 5-8 inches in
diameter; branches stout, ascending, somewhat angular, with short, rigid
branchlets, forming a stiff, narrow head.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk grayish-brown, smooth in young trees, in old
trees separating into large plates; smaller branches dark brown,
season's shoots green.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds small, ovate, acute, dark brown.

Leaves 3-5 inches long, light green on the upper side, paler beneath,
pubescent when young; outline ovate-obovate or orbicular,
crenulate-serrate; teeth not bristle-tipped; apex abruptly acuminate;
base wedge-shaped, rounded, somewhat heart-shaped, or narrowing to a
short petiole more or less red-glandular near the blade; stipules
usually linear, ciliate, soon falling.

=Inflorescence.=--Appearing in May before the leaves, in lateral,
2-3-flowered, slender-stemmed umbels; flowers about an inch broad, white
when expanding, turning to pink; calyx 5-lobed, glandular; petals 5,
obovate-oblong, contracting to a claw; stamens numerous; style 1, stigma
1.

=Fruit.=--A drupe, oblong-oval, 1-1-1/2 inches long, orange or
orange-red, skin tough, flesh adherent to the flat stone and pleasant to
the taste. The fruit toward the southern limit of the species is often
abortive, or develops through the growth of a fungus into monstrous
forms.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England, and will grow,
when not sha