s wide, light green and shining on
both sides, ovate-lanceolate, oval or oblong-lanceolate, finely
serrate; teeth sharp-pointed, sometimes incurved; apex acuminate; base
obtuse or roundish; midrib depressed above; leafstalks short, channeled;
stipules falling early.

=Inflorescence.=--June. Appearing with the leaves, in lateral clusters,
the flowers on long, slender, somewhat branching stems; calyx 5-cleft;
segments thin, reflexed; petals 5, white, obovate, short-clawed; stamens
numerous; pistil 1; style 1.

=Fruit.=--About the size of a pea, round, light red, thin-meated and
sour: stone oval or ovate.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; prefers a light
gravelly loam, but grows in poor soils and exposed situations; habit so
uncertain and tendency to sprout so decided that it is not wise to use
it in ornamental plantations; sometimes very useful in sterile land. A
variety with transparent yellowish fruit is occasionally met with, but
is not yet in cultivation.

[Illustration: PLATE LXIII.--Prunus Pennsylvanica.]

1. Winter buds.
2. Flowering branch.
3. Flower with part of perianth and stamens removed.
4. Petal.
5. Fruiting branch.

=Prunus Virginiana, L.=

CHOKECHERRY.

=Habitat and Range.=--In varying soils; along river banks, on dry
plains, in woods, common along walls, often thickets.

From Newfoundland across the continent, as far north on the
Mackenzie river as 62 deg..

Common throughout New England; at an altitude of 4500 feet upon Mt.
Katahdin.

South to Georgia; west to Minnesota and Texas.

=Habit.=--Usually a shrub a few feet high, but occasionally a tree 15-25
feet in height, with a trunk diameter of 5-6 inches; head, in open
places, spreading, somewhat symmetrical, with dull foliage, but very
attractive in flower and fruit, the latter variable in color and
quantity.

=Bark.=--Trunk and branches dull gray, darker on older trees, rough with
raised buff-orange spots; branchlets dull grayish or reddish brown;
season's shoots lighter, minutely dotted. Bitter to the taste.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds 1-1-1/4 inches long, conical,
sharp-pointed, brown, slightly divergent from the stem.

Leaves 2-5 inches long and two-thirds as wide, dull green on the upper
side, lighter beneath, obovate or oblong, thin, finely, sharply, and
often doubly serrate; apex abruptly pointed; base roundish, obtuse or
slightly heart-shaped; leafstalk round, grooved, w