18. Amelanchier. Pome usually of 5 carpels; each becomes incompletely 2-celled by a projection from its back; otherwise as Pyrus. 1. PRÙNUS, Tourn. PLUM, CHERRY, ETC. Calyx 5-cleft, the tube bell-shaped, urn-shaped, or tubular-obconical, deciduous after flowering. Petals 5, spreading. Stamens 15--20. Pistil solitary, with 2 pendulous ovules. Drupe fleshy, with a bony stone.--Small trees or shrubs, with mostly edible fruit. (The ancient Latin name.) § 1. PRUNUS proper (and CERASUS). _Drupe smooth, and the stone smooth or somewhat rugged; flowers (usually white) from separate lateral scaly buds in early spring, preceding or coetaneous with the leaves; the pedicels few or several in simple umbel-like clusters._ 1. P. Americàna, Marshall. (WILD YELLOW or RED PLUM.) Tree thorny, 8--20° high; _leaves ovate_ or somewhat obovate, _conspicuously pointed, coarsely or doubly serrate; very veiny, glabrous when mature_; fruit nearly destitute of bloom, roundish oval, yellow, orange, or red, ½--{2/3}´ in diameter, with the turgid stone more or less acute on both margins, or in cultivated states 1´ or more in diameter, the flattened stone with broader margins; pleasant-tasted, but with a tough and acerb skin.--Woodlands and river banks, common. 2. P. marítima, Wang. (BEACH PLUM.) Low and straggling (1--5°); _leaves ovate or oval, finely serrate, softly pubescent underneath_; pedicels short, pubescent; fruit globular, purple or crimson with a bloom (½--1´ in diameter); the stone very turgid, _acute on one edge_, rounded and minutely grooved on the other.--Sea beaches and the vicinity, N. Brunswick to Va. It varies, when at some distance from the coast (N. J. and southward), with the leaves smoother and thinner and the fruit smaller. 3. P. Alleghaniénsis, Porter. A low straggling shrub or small tree (3--15° high), seldom thorny; _leaves lanceolate to oblong-ovate, often long-acuminate, finely and sharply serrate_, softly pubescent when young, glabrate with age; _fruit globose-ovoid, very dark purple with a bloom_ (less than ½´ in diameter); stone turgid, a shallow groove on one side and a broad flat ridge on the other.--Bluffs of the Alleghany Mts., Penn. 4. P. Chicàsa, Michx. (CHICKASAW PLUM.) Stem scarcely thorny (8--15° high); _leaves nearly lanceolate, finely serrulate, glabrous_; fruit globular, _red, nearly destitute of bloom_ (½--{2/3}´ in diameter); the ovoid stone almost as thick as wide, rounded at both sutures, one of them minutely grooved.--Md. to Fla., west to S. Ind., Kan., and Tex. 5. P. grácilis, Engelm. & Gray. _Soft-pubescent_, 1--4° high; _leaves oblong-lanceolate to ovate, acute, sharply serrate_, becoming nearly glabrous above, 1--2´ long; _pedicels and calyx pubescent_; fruit less than ½´ in diameter; stone rather turgid, suborbicular.--Prairies and sandy places, S. Kan. to Tex. and Tenn.