Flowers in sessile axillary umbels; fruit usually slightly 2-lobed by a ventral groove, generally more than ½′ in diameter, red to nearly black or yellow, often covered with a glaucous bloom. Prunophora. Plums. Leaves convolute in the bud, their petioles usually without glands. Leaves broad-ovate to orbicular; fruit often 1′ or more in diameter, red or yellow, nearly destitute of bloom.1. [P. subcordata] (G). Leaves ovate-lanceolate to oblong or obovate; fruit ½′ in diameter or less, blue, nearly black, red or yellow, covered with a glaucous bloom.2. [P. umbellata] (C). Leaves conduplicate in the bud. Leaves dull dark green, usually abruptly pointed at apex. Fruit red, rarely yellow, or blue in one form of 2 and 5; leaves oblong to obovate; stone of the fruit compressed. Leaves crennate-serrate, their petioles biglandular; calyx-lobes glandular.3. [P. nigra] (A). Leaves sharply serrate with slender often apiculate teeth. Leaves narrowed and usually cuneate at base. Leaves glabrous or villose on the midrib below; petioles and calyx-lobes usually without glands.4. [P. americana] (A, C, F). Leaves pubescent below; fruit covered with a thick glaucous bloom. Petioles eglandular or with a single gland near the apex; pedicel of the flower glabrous; calyx-tube puberulous; stone of the fruit rounded at base.5. [P. lanata] (A, C). Petioles glandular near the apex with 1—3 prominent glands; pedicel of the flower furnished near the apex, like the glabrous calyx-tube, with long white hairs; stone of the fruit pointed at base.6. [P. tenuifolia] (C). Leaves usually broad and rounded at base, ovate to elliptic or obovate, conspicuously reticulate-venulose; petioles glandular.7. [P. mexicana] (C). Fruit purple, covered with a glaucous bloom; leaves lanceolate to oblong-ovate; petioles and calyx-lobes without glands; stone of the fruit turgid.8. [P. alleghaniensis] (A). Leaves thin and lustrous, acute or acuminate, narrowed at base; petioles usually glandular; fruit red or yellow, the stone turgid. Calyx-lobes glandular. Leaves oblong-obovate to oblong-oval or rarely oblong-lanceolate.9. [P. hortulana] (A). Leaves elliptic to lanceolate.10. [P. Munsoniana] (A, C). Calyx-lobes without glands; leaves lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate.11. [P. angustifolia] (A, C). Flowers in axillary umbels or corymbs; fruit bright red and lustrous, ½′ in diameter or less; leaves conduplicate in the bud. Mahaleb. Bird Cherries. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acuminate or rarely acute at apex.12. [P. pennsylvanica] (A, B, F). Leaves oblong-obovate to oblanceolate, usually obtuse, occasionally acute at apex.13. [P. emarginata] (B, F, G). Flowers in terminal racemes on leafy branches of the year; fruit globose, red or rarely yellow; leaves conduplicate in the bud. Padus. Wild Cherries. Calyx-lobes deciduous from the fruit; leaves oblong-oval or obovate, abruptly pointed, cuneate, rounded or in one form cordate at base.14. [P. virginiana] (A, B, F, G). Calyx-lobes persistent on the fruit. Petioles biglandular near the apex. Leaves oblong to oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous, or rarely pubescent on the midrib below.15. [P. serotina] (A, C). Leaves oval, broad-ovate or rarely obovate, acute, short-pointed or rounded at apex, villose-pubescent below.16. [P. alabamensis] (C). Leaves obovate, oval or elliptic, short-pointed or rounded at apex, covered below with rufous hairs.17. [P. australis] (C). Petioles without glands; leaves elliptic to ovate or slightly obovate, acute, rounded or abruptly short-pointed at apex, in one form rusty pubescent on the midrib below.18. [P. virens] (E, F, H). Flowers in racemes from the axils of persistent leaves of the previous year; fruit globose or slightly three-lobed; leaves conduplicate in the bud. Laurocerasus. Cherry Laurels. Calyx-lobes rounded, undulate on the margins; leaves oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, entire or rarely remotely spinulose-serrate; fruit black, the stone broad-ovoid, acute, cylindric.19. [P. caroliniana] (C). Calyx-lobes acute, minute. Leaves elliptic to oblong-ovate, entire; fruit orange-brown, the stone subglobose.20. [P. myrtifolia] (D). Leaves ovate to ovate-lanceolate, acute, rounded or emarginate at apex, conspicuously spinulose-dentate; fruit red, becoming purple or nearly black, the stone ovoid, short-pointed.21. [P. ilicifolia] (G). Leaves ovate to lanceolate, acuminate or abruptly short-pointed at apex, usually entire; fruit dark purple or nearly black, the stone ovoid to obovoid, short-pointed.22. [P. Lyonii] (G).
1. [Prunus subcordata] Benth. Wild Plum.
Leaves broad-ovate or orbicular, usually cordate, sometimes truncate or rarely cuneate at base, and sharply often doubly serrate, when they unfold puberulous on the upper surface and pubescent on the lower surface, and at maturity glabrous, or puberulous below, slightly coriaceous, dark green above and pale below, 1′—3′ long and ½′—2′ wide, with a broad midrib and conspicuous veins; northward turning brilliant scarlet and orange or red and yellow in the autumn before falling; petioles slender, usually eglandular, ½′—¾′ in length; stipules lanceolate, acute, glandular-serrate. Flowers appearing before the leaves in March and April, ⅔′ in diameter, on slender glabrous or pubescent pedicels ¼′—½′ long, in 2—4-flowered umbels; calyx-tube campanulate, glabrous or puberulous, the lobes oblong-obovate, rounded at apex, pubescent on the outer surface, more or less clothed with pale hairs on the inner surface, half as long as the obovate white petals rounded above and narrowed below into a short claw. Fruit ripening in August and September, on stout pedicels ½′—⅔′ long; short-oblong, ½′—1¼′ long, with dark red or sometimes bright yellow skin, and more or less subacid flesh; stone flattened or turgid, acute at the ends, ⅓′—1′ long, narrowly wing-margined on the ventral suture, conspicuously grooved on the dorsal suture.
A tree, 20°—25° high, with a trunk sometimes a foot in diameter, dividing 6°—8° from the ground into stout almost horizontal branches, and glabrous or pubescent bright red more or less spinescent branchlets marked by occasional minute pale lenticels, becoming darker red or purple in their second year, and ultimately dark brown or ashy gray; or often a bush, with stout ascending stems 10°—12° tall, or a low much-branched shrub. Winter-buds acute, ⅛′ long, with chestnut-brown scales, scarious on the margins, those of the inner rows ¼′ long at maturity, oblong, acute, and generally bright red. Bark about ¼′ thick, gray-brown, deeply fissured, and divided into long thick plates broken on the surface into minute persistent scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, pale brown, with thin lighter colored sapwood of 5 or 6 layers of annual growth.
Distribution. Dry rocky hills and open woods usually in the neighborhood of streams, sometimes forming thickets of considerable extent; central Oregon to northeastern California in the region east of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada Mountains, and common to central California; on the foothills of the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada up to altitudes of 4000° south to the Yosemite Valley, and on the coast ranges to Black Mountain, Santa Clara County; of its largest size on the borders of small streams in southern Oregon and northern California; at high altitudes, and in the arid regions of southeastern Oregon a low shrub producing sparingly small sometimes pubescent fruit (var. oregona Wight); Klamath Indian Reservation, near Klamath Falls and in Sprague River Valley, Klamath County.
2. [Prunus umbellata] Ell. Sloe. Black Sloe.
Leaves obovate-lanceolate to oblong, acute at the ends or sometimes rounded or slightly cordate at base, finely and sharply serrate with remote incurved glandular teeth, and usually furnished with 2 large dark glands at the base, when they unfold bright bronze-green, with red margins, midrib, and petiole, glabrous above and pubescent or glabrous below with the exception of a few hairs along the prominent orange-colored midrib and primary veins, and at maturity thin, dark green above, paler below, 2′—2½′ long and 1′—1½′ wide, petioles stout, glabrous or pubescent, about ⅓′ in length; stipules lanceolate, setaceous, glandular-serrate, ¼′—⅔′ long. Flowers opening in March and April before the appearance of the leaves, ⅔′ in diameter, on slender glabrous pedicels ½′ long, in 3 or 4-flowered umbels; calyx-tube broad-obconic, glabrous or puberulous, the lobes sometimes slightly clavate at the acute red apex, scarious on the margins, and hoary-tomentose on the inner surface; petals nearly orbicular, contracted at the base into a short claw. Fruit ripening from July to September, on slender stems ½′ to nearly 1′ long, globose, without a basal depression, about ½′ in diameter, with a tough thick black or on some individuals yellow, and on others bright red skin covered with a glaucous bloom, and thick acid flesh; stone flattened with thin brittle walls, ½′ long, ¼′—5/16′ wide and half as thick, acute at the ends, slightly rugose, conspicuously ridged on the ventral suture, and slightly grooved on the dorsal suture.
A tree, sometimes 15°—20° high, with a short often crooked or inclining trunk 6′—10′ in diameter, slender unarmed branches forming a wide compact flat-topped head, and slender branchlets more or less densely coated at first with pale pubescence, soon becoming glabrous, lustrous and bright red, and in their second year dark dull brown and marked by occasional orange-colored oblong lenticels; or frequently a low shrub. Winter-buds about 1/16′ long, with acute chestnut-brown apiculate scales, those of the inner rows at maturity ¼′ long and red at the apex. Bark ¼′ thick, dark brown, separating into small appressed persistent scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, dark reddish brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood of about 30 layers of annual growth. The fruit is used in large quantities in making jellies and jams.