Winter-buds small, obtuse, free, brownish; leaves folded upward, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, pointed at both ends, thin, membranaceous, margins closely and finely serrate with minute teeth, tipped with glands; upper surface glabrous, lustrous, bright green, lower surface glabrous or pubescent in the axils of the veins, dull, two-thirds inch wide and from one to two inches long; petioles one-half inch long, slender, glabrous or tomentose, bright red with two red glands near or on the base of the leaf; stipules one-half inch long, narrow-lobed, serrate with gland-tipped teeth. Flowers appearing with or before the leaves, small, less than one-half inch across, very numerous; umbels sub-sessile, two to four-flowered, from lateral spurs or buds; pedicels glabrous, slender, one-half inch in length; calyx-tube campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes obtuse, glabrous outside, margins ciliate, inner surface pubescent, reflexed; petals creamy in the bud, obovate, apex rounded, narrowing into a claw at the base; filaments and pistils glabrous, the latter shorter than the stamens. Fruit ripening early; spherical or ovoid, three-quarters inch in diameter, bright red, sometimes yellow, glossy, with little or no bloom; dots numerous, very conspicuous; skin thin; flesh tender, juicy, yellow, subacid; quality rather poor; stone small, clinging, ovoid, turgid, slightly roughened, cherry-like, edges rounded, the dorsal one grooved. The original home of _Prunus angustifolia_ is not known. The inference is left in most of the botanies that the species is not indigenous in the region east of the Mississippi, but that it was brought by the aborigines from the southwestern section of the Mississippi Valley or possibly the southern Rocky Mountains or Mexico. The chief reason for the belief that it does not belong where it now grows is the fact that it is usually found near human habitations and on the margins of fields and as it was known to have been cultivated by the Indians,[133] it is supposed to have escaped from their semi-cultivated plantations. Bailey[134] dissents from the current view, holding that the plant behaves like a true native in regions where he has known it, Maryland in particular. It seems to the writer that Bartram’s supposition, given in the foot-note below, has been followed too closely. A careful study of recent botanical works indicates that the species is indigenous to the southeastern United States.