FLATWOODS PLUM (Two-thirds natural size)
[BARK] ¼ inch thick, dark brown, almost black, and broken diagonally into small, hard, [appressed], [persistent] [scales]. LEAVES bright bronze-green with red margins and [petiole] when they unfold; at maturity, usually less than 2½ inches long, ovate-lanceolate to [oblong] with a rounded or slightly [cordate] base; leaf thin, dark green above, paler below; usually furnished with two large dark glands at the base; margins finely and sharply [serrate] with incurved teeth.
Small white FLOWERS appearing in umbels of 3 or 4 flowers before the leaves. Flowers ⅔ inch in diameter. [FRUIT] a [drupe] on a stem ½ to 1 inch long, round, ½ inch in diameter, and with a tough, black, yellow, or bright red skin covered with a [glaucous] [bloom], and with thick, acid flesh. Stone flattened, brittle-walled, and wrinkled. Dorsal edge grooved; ventral edge with conspicuous ridge. The fruit is relished by deer.
BLACK CHERRY
Prunus serotina Ehrh.
A medium-sized tree, up to about 70 feet high and 1 to 3 feet in diameter, black cherry is found in eastern Texas and in the mountains of West Texas. The forest-grown trees have long clear trunks with little taper. Open-grown trees have short trunks with many branches and irregular spreading [crowns]. The [BARK] on branches and young trunks is smooth and bright reddish-brown, marked by conspicuous, narrow, white, horizontal lines, and has a bitter almond taste. On the older trunks the bark becomes rough and broken into thick, irregular plates.
BLACK CHERRY (Leaf and [fruit], one-third natural size; twig, two-thirds natural size)
The LEAVES are [alternate], [simple], [oval] to lance-like in shape, 2 to 6 inches long and 1-1½ inches wide, with fine, incurved serrations, shiny above, and paler beneath. Cattle eating wilted leaves may be fatally poisoned.
The [FRUIT] is a dull purplish-black [drupe], about as large as a pea, and is borne in long hanging [panicles]. The fruit ripens in late summer, is edible though slightly bitter, and is relished by wildlife.