Amygddlus coftwiujiis, 



THE COMMON ALMOND-TREE. 



Synonymes. 



Amygdahis communis, 



Ainandier, 



]\Iaiulelbaum, 



JMandorlo, 



Almendro, 



Amcndoeira, 



Blindalnoe derevo, 



Almond-tree, 



LiNN^us, Species Plantarum. 



De Candolue, Prodromus. 



Loudon, Arborelam Britannicum. 



France. 



Germany. 



Italy. 



Spain. 



Portugal. 



Russia. 



Britain and Anglo-America. 



Engrarings. Du Hamol, Trait6 des Arbres el Arbustes, iv., pi. 29; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, vi., pi. 105; ana the 

 figures below. 



Specific Characters. Fruit a drupe ; compressed and rather egg-shaped ; the nut 2-ovuled, 1 2-secded. 

 Style terminal. Calyx deciduous, of a bell-shape ; flowers solitary. Leaves feather-nerved, undivided, 

 oblong-lanceolate, serrate, with the lower serratures, or the petioles glanded. Stipules not attached to 

 the petiole. 



Description. 



" The hope, in dreams of a happier hour, 

 Thai alights on misery's brow, 

 Springs forth lil<e the silvery ahiiond flower, 

 That blooms on a leafless bough." 



MooRE. 



peS^HE Corn- 

 s' h H [^ mon Almond, 

 1^ LI ^ when grafted 



,_ ifel'^S on the plum, 



in the central parts of Europe and 

 North America, often attains a height 

 of twenty or thirty feet, with a trunk 

 eight or ten inches in diameter; and 

 even in the neighbourhood of Paris, it 

 is met with of an elevation of forty 

 feet, and in Spain, Italy, and the south 

 of France, it grows still higher. It is 

 neither a handsome-shaped tree, nor 

 of long duration, its head being wide 

 and spreading ; but from being open, 

 the shoots are clothed with oblong-lanceolate leaves, and pale, rose-coloured blos- 

 som-buds, to a great length, so that when the latter expand, the branches appear 

 to be wholly covered with them. It is commonly one of the first among hardy 

 trees to display its blossoms, which generally put forth in Barbary in January; 

 at Smyrna, in February ; near London, in March ; in Germany and New York, 

 the latter part of April'; and at Christiania, in Norway, not till the beginning of 

 June. Its contemporary flowering trees, in Britain, are the sloe, the apricot, the 

 Cerasus pseudo-cerasus, and the myrobalan plum (Prunus domestica myroba- 

 lana.) The blossoms of all these trees appear before the leaves ; and hence they 

 produce the finest effect when planted among evergreens. It has been observed 

 that, though vernal frosts often destroy the germs of the fruit, they do not injur.e 

 the beauty of the flowers, but even increase their splendour. An avenue of 



