Flowers three-quarters inch across, appearing before and with the leaves; borne in two or three-flowered umbels, on slender, glabrous pedicels; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, hairy above, the lobes acute, entire, villose on the outer, tomentose on the inner surface; petals oblong-obovate with a short claw at the base; filaments and pistils glabrous. Fruit maturing very late; short-oblong to sub-globose, one-third to one-half inch in length, red, yellow, purple, black or blue; skin tough and thick; flesh thick and acid; stone adhering to the flesh, ovoid, more or less compressed, very rugose, ridged on the ventral and grooved on the dorsal suture, acute at the apex, rounded at the base. _Prunus tarda_, locally known as the Sloe, as are many other plums, was named from specimens collected in 1901 near Marshall, Texas, by Sargent and others. Sargent, to whom is due what field knowledge we have of the plant, gives its range from where found in Texas to western Louisiana and southern Arkansas. He says that it resembles and is often confounded with _Prunus umbellata_ but may be distinguished from it by its bark, which differs from that of any other American plum tree, being more like that of the chinquapin chestnut with which it grows; by the pubescence on the leaves, not usually found on those of _Prunus umbellata_; and by its variously colored fruit which ripens much later than that of other plums in the region. From what has been published in regard to the species one gathers little in regard to its horticultural possibilities though the statements that it bears great quantities of fruit and is used locally for culinary purposes indicate that it may have some value under cultivation. =18.= =PRUNUS ANGUSTIFOLIA= Marshall =1.= Marshall _Arb. Am._ 111. 1785. =2.= Torrey and Gray _Fl. N. Am._ =1=:407. 1840. =3.= Loudon _Arb. Fr. Brit._ =2=:705. 1844. =4.= Sargent _10th Cen. U. S._ =9=:66. 1883. =5.= Watson and Coulter _Gray’s Man._ Ed. =6=:152. 1889 (in part). =6.= Gray _For. Trees N. A._ 47, Pl. 1891. =7.= Sargent _Sil. N. Am._ =4=:25, Pl. 152. 1892. =8.= Mohr _Cont. U. S. Nat. Herb._ =6=:551. 1901. _P. chicasa._ =9.= Michaux[132] _Fl. Bor. Am._ =1=:284. 1803. =10.= Nuttall _Gen. N. Am. Pl._ =1=:302. 1818. =11.= Elliott _Sk. Bot. S. C. and Ga._ =1=:542. 1821. =12.= Hall _Pl. Texas_ 9. 1873. =13.= Ridgway _Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus._ 65. 1882. =14.= Chapman _Fl. Sou. U. S._ 131. 1897. Plant seldom becoming a true tree, usually, however, forming a small but distinct trunk with a twiggy, bushy top; bark thin, dark reddish-brown, slightly furrowed or roughened, scaly; branches slender, usually zigzag with long, thin thorns or spine-like branchlets; branchlets slender, zigzag, glabrous, glossy, bright red; lenticels few, scattered, yellowish, raised.