_P. domestica_. =6.= Maximowicz _Mel. Biol._ =11=:678. 1883. _P. hattan_ Tamari. =7.= Bailey _An. Hort._ 30. 1889. _P. communis._ =8.= Forbes and Hemsley _Jour. Linn. Soc._ =23=:219. 1886-88. _P. japonica_ of horticulturists (not _P. japonica_ of Thunberg). Tree twenty to thirty feet in height, vigorous; trunk six to twelve inches in diameter, straight; bark thick, rough, numerous corky elevations especially on the branches, reddish or cinnamon-brown, peach-like; branches long, upright-spreading, much forked, brash and often splitting at the forks; branchlets thick, straight, glaucous and glabrous, at first light red, growing darker the second year; lenticels few or many, usually small but conspicuous, light in color. Winter-buds small and obtuse, free or appressed; leaves borne abundantly, small or of but medium size, oblong-obovate, point acuminate or abrupt, prominent, base rounded, firm, thin, membranaceous, margins finely and closely serrated, sometimes in two series, teeth usually glandular; upper surface bright green, glabrous, lower surface dull, whitish, glabrous or slightly pubescent on the veins; veins pronounced; petioles one-half inch in length, stoutish, tinged with red; glands few or several, usually globose, greenish; stipules lanceolate, very narrow, one-half inch long, caducous. Flowers expanding early, before, with or sometimes after the leaves, first of the plum blossoms to appear, very abundant, three-quarters of an inch in diameter; usually three springing from each flower-bud, often in dense clusters on lateral spurs and lateral buds on one-year-old wood; calyx-tube green, glabrous, campanulate or obconic; calyx-lobes acute to obtuse glandular-serrate, erect, glabrous or pubescent; petals white, oval, entire or crenate, with a short claw or tip; stamens about twenty-five, shorter than the petals; anthers yellow, sometimes tinged with red; pistils glabrous, longer than the stamens; pedicels one-half inch long, slender. Fruit varying greatly in season, from very early to late; large, from one to two inches in diameter, globular, heart-shaped or often somewhat conical; cavity deep; apex conspicuously pointed; suture usually prominent; color varies greatly but usually a bright red or yellow, never blue or purple, lustrous, with little or no bloom; dots small, numerous, usually conspicuous; skin thin, tough, astringent; stem one-half inch in length; flesh red or more often yellow, firm, fibrous, juicy; quality variable, of distinct flavor, usually good; stone clinging tenaciously or nearly free, small, rough or lightly pitted, oval to ovate, one edge grooved, the other ridged.