Tas. 8360. 
PRUNUS MICROCARPA. 
Orient. 
RosacEak. Tribe PRUNEAE. 
Prunus, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. i. p. 609. 
Prunus microcarpa, C. A. Mey. Enum. Casp. p. 167; C.K. Schneid. Handb. d. 
Laubhoizk. vol. i. p. 604, fig. 337 s-t et fig. 338 f, cum varietate tortuosu, 
p. €05, fig. 83837 w-x et tig. 838 g-h; inter species sectionis Microcerasi 
floribus fructibusque distincte vel longiuscule pedicellatis distincta. 
Frutex humilis vel ad 2 m. altus, valde variabilis; rami virgati vel divaricati, 
rigidi vel tortuosi, juniores saepe pubescentes demum glabrescentes rarius 
glabri, cortice castaneo vel fusco tecti. Folia late ovata vel ovato-elliptica 
vel lanceolato-oblonga, subacuta, serrato-dentata, 1-3 cm. longa, 0°7-2 cm. 
lata, glabra vel plus minusve pubescentia; petioli tenuiter pubescentes, 
1:5-5 mm. longi; stipulae e basi fimbriata subulatae, ad 6 mm. longae. 
Flores perpauci, plerumque bini, in brachycladiis foliatis brevissimis cum 
foliis vel paulo antea evoluti; pedicelli tenuiter pubescentes vel glabri, 
3-12 mm. longi. Receptaculum rubescens, late cylindricum, post fecunda- 
tionem medio constrictum, 3-4 mm. longum, glabrum vel ima basi 
pubescens. Seprla ovata, ciliata, 1-1°5 mm. longa. VPetala albo-rosea 
vel alba, obovata, circiter 5 mm. longa. Fructus ovoideus, acutiusculus, 
0-7-1 cm. longus, in planta spontanea ruber vel luteus.—P. diffusa, 
C. K. Schneid. Handb. d. Laubholzk. p. 606, fig. 337 u-w et fig. 338 i. 
Cerasus microcarpa Boiss. Fl. Or. vol. ii. p. 646. C. tortuosa et C. diffusa, 
Boiss. et Hausskn. Fl. Or. vol. ii. p. 647.—O. Starr. 
The little Cherry here figured was acquired for Kew 
from Zoeschen in 1900 and has been grown in the Prunus 
collection ever since. It is a form of P. microcarpa, 
C. A. Mey., originally described from specimens collected on 
Mount Bashbarmak, north of Baku, which represent a state 
with glabrous leaves and finely pubescent young twigs. A 
state with rigid divaricate or tortuous branches, distinctly 
pubescent all over, was later treated by Boissier and Hauss- 
knecht as a distinct species, Cerasus tortuosa. The same 
authors based on specimens from South Persia, more diffuse 
in habit and with smaller leaves and flowers, another species, 
Cerasus diffusa. But Bornmueller, who collected P. micro- 
carpa on the hills around Erbil in North-eastern Mesopotamia, 
found the plant to vary, in the same locality, as to pubes- 
cence, length of fruit-stalk and colour of fruit. Dr. Stapf, 
who knows P. microcarpa on the hills and mountains near 
Fesrvary, 1911. 
