Part 45

WILD RED CHERRY

=Prunus pennsylvanica=, L. f.

=Form=.—Height 20-35 feet, diameter 8-12 inches; trunk straight, short, tapering, with upright branches forming a narrow crown.

=Leaves=.—Alternate, simple, 3-5 inches long, oblong-lanceolate, pointed, finely and sharply serrate, glabrous, thin, bright green above, paler beneath.

=Flowers=.—May, with the leaves; perfect; about ½ inch wide, white on slender pedicels in 4-5-flowered umbels.

=Fruit=.—Ripens in July and persists until autumn; a globular drupe, about ¼ inch in diameter, bright red, thick-skinned, sour.

=Bark=.—Smooth, or somewhat roughened by loose, papery plates, reddish brown.

=Wood=.—Light, soft, close-grained, light brown with thin yellowish sapwood.

=Range=.—Labrador to British Columbia and southward to North Carolina and Colorado.

=Distribution in West Virginia=.—Common in West Virginia along the mountains, especially in areas from which other timber has been destroyed by fire.

=Habitat=.—Sandy soils of burned-over mountain-sides and flats, and along streams at lower elevations.

=Notes=.—Fire Cherry and Bird Cherry are two common names of this tree, the first denoting its habitat and the second the attractiveness of its fruit to birds. This species performs its principal service in covering otherwise bare, fire-burned areas to which the seeds have been carried and dropped by birds.

WILD PLUM

=Prunus americana=, Marsh.

=Form=.—Height 10-25 feet, diameter 6-12 inches; trunk short supporting a wide-spreading crown of horizontal and drooping branches.

=Leaves=.—Alternate, simple 2-4 inches long, narrowly obovate, long taper-pointed at apex, sharply and doubly serrate, firm, dark green and rough above, paler and hairy below.

=Flowers=.—May, with the leaves; perfect; 1 inch wide, white, arranged in 2-5-flowered umbels.

=Fruit=.—Ripens in early autumn; a globose, red drupe about 1 inch in diameter, the flesh sweet and edible; stone flattened.

=Bark=.—Grayish-brown and rough on old trunks with thin, flat plates.

=Wood=.—Hard, heavy, strong, close-grained, red-brown, with thin light sapwood.

=Range=.—New York to Florida, west to Texas and Montana.

=Distribution in West Virginia=.—Scattered throughout the State but nowhere common except in small areas.

=Habitat=.—Grows principally on swamp borders and along streams.

=Notes=.—The Wild Plum is found growing in dense thickets in some of our upland swamps where it produces large crops of fruit. The tree is of little importance commercially but is sometimes used as a stock upon which domestic plums are grafted.

HONEY LOCUST

=Gleditsia triacanthos=, L.

=Form=.—Height 40-50 feet, diameter 1-2 feet; trunk usually short and armed with branched thorns; crown broad, round-topped.

=Leaves=.—Alternate, singly or doubly compound, 7-8 inches long, the single compound leaves having 18-28 leaflets; the double compound leaves 8-14 divisions each, with 18-20 leaflets; leaflets lanceolate-oblong, somewhat serrate.