XXVIII. 2. THE NORTHERN RED CHERRY. 451 



which circumstance it is distinguished from the Sloe, which 

 also is naturalized in some parts of the country. The segments 

 of the calyx are entire, and obtuse. Petals white, inversely 

 egg-shaped. The stamens are numerous. Style single, longer 

 than the stamens. The fruit is usually round and black, cov- 

 ered with a yellowish bloom. 



This plant was first pointed out to me by my friend E. Tuck- 

 erman, and I have since repeatedly met with it. 



XXVIII. 2. THE CHERRY. CERASUS. Jussieu. 



The name Cerasus, derived from a town on the Black Sea, 

 from whence this tree is supposed to have been introduced into 

 Italy, designates a genus of about forty species, natives of all 

 the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. They are 

 trees or shrubs, with smooth, serrated leaves, which are folded 

 together when young, and white or reddish flowers, growing in 

 bunches, like umbels, preceding the leaves, or in terminal ra- 

 cemes, accompanying or following the leaves. The fruit is a 

 fleshy drupe, globose, or with a hollow at base, and containing 

 a nearly globose, smooth nut. A few species, with numerous 

 varieties, produce valuable fruits ; nearly all are remarkable 

 for the abundance of their early flowers, sometimes rendered 

 double by cultivation. Ten species are found in this country 

 north of Mexico, of which the following occur in Massachusetts. 



Section First. — Flowers in umbels, pedicels l-flowered y spring- 



ing from the buds. 



This includes most of the cultivated cherries, and 



Sp. 1. The Northern Red Cherry. C. Pennsylvanica. 



Torrey and Gray. 



Figured in Michaux, North American Flora, Plate 98. 



The northern Red Cherry is a small, slender tree, rising 

 sometimes to the height of twenty or twenty-five feet, with a 

 diameter of six to nine inches. I have met with it in many 

 parts of the State, and it occurs abundantly on the plains in the 

 central counties. On the top and steep sides of Wachusett, it 



