498 



AMYGDALACEiE. III. Armeniaca. IV. Prukus. 



Prunus Armenlaca nigra, Desf. cat. ed. 2. p. 206. In a spe- 

 cimen that flowered in the Botanical Garden at Geneva, the 



is not so good as the white thorn for hedges, because it spreads 

 its roots wide and encroaches upon the pastures ; but it is ex- 

 calyx was purple and 6-lobed, the petals 6 in number, and the cellent for dead fences, and to lay in covered drains. The fruit, 

 stamens 24. This species is called Ahricot noir in French gar- when ripe, makes an excellent preserve ; unripe the inspissated 



dens, the fruit black and eatable. It is supposed to be a native 

 of the Levant. The flowers are white. 



juice forms the German acacia, and affords an almost indelible 

 ink, used to mark linens. It is used in home-made wines, to 



Thick-fruiied Apricot. Fl. Apr. Clt. 1800. Tr. 10 to 15 ft. communicate the colour and roughness of red port. The tender 



3 A. PERsiciFOLiA (Lois, in Duham. ed. nov. 5. p. 172. t. leaves, dried, are sometimes used as a substitute for tea, and is 



552. f. 1.) leaves ovate, short, or lanceolate, lobulate; petioles the best substitute that has been yet tried, and it is said they 



glandular; flowers pedicellate. ^. H. Native country un- 

 known. Flesh of fruit variegated with yellow and red, eatable. 

 Called in France Ahricot noir a feuilles de picker, or peach^ 

 leaved black apricot. Corolla white. 



Peach-leaved Apricot. Fl. Mar. April. Clt. 1800. Tree 

 10 to 15 feet. 



4 A. Sibi'rica (Pers. ench. 2. p. 36.) leaves ovate, acumln- 



have been used in mixing with the Chinese tea. Knight and 

 others consider the sloe as the parent of the bullace plum (P. 

 insititia) and the varieties of the common plum {P, domhtka). 

 Sloes have been employed as a styptic medicine from the time 

 of Dioscorides. They have been recommended in diarrhoeas 

 and haemorrhages, and as gargles in the swellings of the tonsils 

 and uvula. Dr. Cullen considers them as the most powerful of 



The 



ated; petiole glandless. b • H. Native of the ulterior moun- acerb fruits, and as agreeable and useful astringents. 



tains of Siberia. Amm. ruth. 272. t. 29. Prunus Sibirica, Lin. flowers with their calyxes, are moderately purgative: the dose 



spec. p. 679. Pall. ross. 1. p. 15. t. 8. This tree is much like is an ounce infused in water. As a shrubbery plant the sloe is 



the common apricot in appearance, but smaller in all its parts ; most ornamental, blossoming before all others of the Prilnus 



the petioles are longer and destitute of any gland ; the leaves tribe. 



are of the form of those of the birch tree ; the fruit is small, 



juiceless, and sour or acid, and contains a bitter kernel. In obovate-elliptic ; fruit dark purple. P. spinosa, Lois. inDuham^ 



transalpine Dauria, the north side of the mountains in May 



are clothed with the purple flowers of Rhododendron Dau~ 



rtcum and the south side with the rose-coloured blossoms of 



this tree. 



Siberian Apricot. Fl. Apr. May. Clt. 1788. Sh. 4 to 6 ft. 



5 A. BRiGANTfACA (Pcrs. cuch. 2. p. 3Q.^ leaves somewhat obovate, bluntish; fruit large, dark purple. 



Var. a, vulgaris (Seh mss. in D. C. prod. 2. p. 532.) leaves 



dark purple. P. spinosa, Lois, in Duham. 

 ed. nov. 5. p. 185. t. 54. f 1. There is a variegated-leaved 

 kind of this. 



Var. /3, mtcrocdrpa (Wallr. exsic. cent. 1. no. 45.) leaves 

 elliptic, narrow, bluntish ; fruit smaller. 



Var. y, macrocdrpia (Wallr. exsic. cent. 1. no. 45.) leaves 



Native of Ger- 



cordate, acuminated, sharply toothed ; the teeth numerous, and 



lapping over each other ; flowers glomerate, almost sessile. 

 ^ . H. Native of Dauphiny, near (Brigantia) Brian^on. Prihnus 

 Brigantiaca, Vill. dauph. 3. p. 535. Lois, in Duham. ed. nov. 5. 

 t. 59. Flowers white or pink. From the seeds of this tree a 

 fixed oil, commonly called huile de marmoie is obtained by ex- 

 pression. It is used instead of olive or almond oil. Perhaps 

 sufficiently distinct from A. Sibirica. 



Briancon Apricot. Fl. Mar. April. Clt. 1819. Sh. 6 to 8 ft. 



Cult. The species are all increased by budding on the same 



many. 

 Var. S, 



Perhaps this is P. domestical var. ^j Juliana, 

 ovdta (Sen mss. in D. C. prod. 2. p. 532.) 



leaves 



ovate-roundish. — Blackw. herb. t. 494. 



Thorny Plum, Black-thorn, or Sloe. Fl. Mar. Apr. Bnt. 

 Shrub 10 to 15 feet. 



2 P. insiti'tia (Lin. spec. 680.) branches spiny at the apex; 

 peduncles twin ; leaves ovate or ovate-lanceolate, convolute, 



Native of Germany 



downy beneath ; fruit roundish, ij • ^' 



Smith, engl. hot 



and France, as well as of Britain, in hedges. 

 , „ 841.— Duham. arb. 2. t. 41. Black Bullace tree, Mill, diet 



kind of stocks recommended for the common apricot. They no. 31. The stipulas are fringed. The flowers are white. 

 grow in any kind of soil, and are very ornamental for shrub- The fruit is globular, black, or white, of an acid taste, but so 



tempered by sweetness and roughness as not to be unjMcasant, 



A conserve is prepared 



beries in spring. 



IV. PRU'NUS (said to be a word of Asiatic origin, the 

 wild plant, according to Galen, being called irpovfivoQ, in Asia, of the roots and branches is considerably styptic 

 from the Greek Trpouvjj, which occurs in Theophrastus). Tourn. 

 inst. t. 398. Juss. gen. 341. D. C. fl. fr. 4. p. 483. prod. 2. 

 p. 532.- — Prunophora, Neck. elem. no. 719. Prunus, species of 

 Lin. and others. 



The bark 



especially after it is mellowed by frost. 



by mixing its pulp with thrice its weight of sugar ^ 



~ - *" *^ ^ "" - -An infusion 



of the flowers, sweetened with sugar, is a mild cathartic. 

 varies with black and white or wax-coloured fruit. 



Gr«/?erfor Bullace-plum. Fl.xMar. Apr. Brit. Sh. 10 to 15 It. 



^ 62.) peduncles 



3 P. ca'ndicans (Balb. cat. taur. 1813. p 

 short, twin, or tern, and are as well as the branches pubescent ; 

 long, fleshy, quite glabrous, covered with a kind of glaucous leaves broadly ovate, white beneath ; stipulas very narro , 



Lin. syst. Icosdndria^ Monogijnia. Drupe ovate, or ob- 



bloom, containing a compressed nut or putamen, which is acute 

 at both ends, and a little furrowed on the margin, the rest 

 smooth. Trees or shrubs. Leaves convolute when young. Flowers reg 



deeply toothed, length of petioles ; calyx campanulate. |? • • 

 Native country unknown. Willd. enum. suppl. p. 32. Lmdl. bo 



untry 

 1135. Flowers white. 



usually disposed in umbellate fascicles, solitary on the pedicels, 

 rising either after or before the leaves. 



1 P. spiNosA (Lin. spec. 681.) branches spinose ; peduncles 

 solitary ; calyx campanulate, with obtuse lobes, which are longer 

 than the tube ; leaves obovate-elliptic, or ovate, smooth except 

 when young, sharply and doubly serrated ; fruit globose. Ij, H. 

 Native of Europe and America; plentiful in Britain, in hedges 

 and thickets. Vahl. fl. dan. t. 926. Smith, engl. bot. 842. 

 Woodv. med. bot. t. 8 1. Blackw. icon. t. 494. P. sylvestris, 

 Bauh.pin. 444. STror^tac, Theophrastus. Spinus, Virgil. Flowers 

 white, rising before or with the leaves. Fruit sour or acid, 

 black, roundish, covered with bluish bloom. The black thorn 



fVhitC'leavea Plum. Fl. Apr. Clt. 1820. 



Shrub 4 to 6 ft. 



1819. 



4 P. Cocomi'lia (Tenore, prod, suppl. 2. p. 67. cat. 

 p. 46.) peduncles short, twin ; leaves obovate, glabrous on bot 

 surfaces, crenulated, with the crenatures glandular; drupe o\ a 

 oblong, mucronulate. J2 . U. Native of Calabria, J^/^^^J^^^f 

 Flowers white. Fruit yellow, bitter, or sour. The bark 

 this shrub is febrifugal, and is spoken very highly ^^ ^y^^ ^"^^^^' 

 it is a specific for the cure of the danfferous fevers of CalaDr , 



spec 

 where it grows. 



Cocomilia or Calabrian Plum. 



dange 



Fl. April. Clt. 1824. 



Sh. 



2 to 3 feet. , . 



5 P. TOMENTOSA (Thunb. fl. jap. 203.) branches unarmea , 



