By John Nelson

Regular readers of this column will remember a photograph and essay just a couple of weeks ago about our native black cherry, which has the scientific name Prunus serotina. It turns out that I got the common name right in that article, but not the scientific name. I got a few phone calls about it, too. I'll write this off as an innocent, botanical boo- boo, and promise that I'll try really hard not to do it again. So for the purposes of righting a wrong, this week's mystery plant will involve the species whose scientific name I got right.

It is in fact a relative of black cherry, also a species of Prunus. The two species are very easy to tell apart, though. While black cherry is strictly a deciduous plant, our mystery plant is evergreen.

Its leaves are elliptical or somewhat egg- shaped, and shiny green. The leaf margins are extremely variable, and may be smooth, or equipped with a number of usually small, jaggedy teeth.

The leaf blades are a bit stiff and leathery, and if you crunch some up in your hands and breathe in the aroma, you will probably recognize at least a slight, sweet laurel scent.

This species is usually a fairly small tree, and it occurs naturally in maritime forests along the coast, from North Carolina down to central Florida, and west to Texas. This species is easily capable of growing well away from the coast, and it has now become naturalized in many parts of the Southeast outside its normal range.

It is something of a weed, actually, often showing up in vacant lots and along fences, and seems to have spread from sites where it is cultivated.

Flowers are produced in short racemes, found in the axils of the leaves. The flowers each bear five tiny white petals, plus stamens and a pistil. The flowers are fragrant, and the trees are rather attractive, I think, while blooming.

Following the blooms, green one- seeded fruits begin to develop. As they mature, the skin ultimately turns a rather glossy black, and they too are attractive.

The seed inside the fruit eventually swells to the point that it occupies most of the interior, with just a thin layer of soft tissue between the seed or "pit" and the skin. I have tasted the flesh of the fruits on my class trips. It delights the students when I make a face and then spit it all out, they taste terrible.

On the other hand, various birds, especially robins and cedar wax- wings seem to love eating these fruits, in the late winter. I'm not sure if the seeds must go through a bird in order to sprout, but my backyard is covered with seedlings of this tree each spring. And, all of the birds in my neighborhood eating these fly over to adorn my car with a kind of ornithological augmentation. It's quite a mess.

Answer to this week's mystery plant

[Answer: "Cherry laurel," "Laurel cherry," Prunus caroliniana]

Dr. John Nelson is the curator of the USC Herbarium.

To learn more about the Herbarium, call him at

777-8196. His department also offers free plant identification.

www.herbarium.org

Photo by John Nelson