Cerasus sylvestris, 

 THE WILD CHERRY-TREE, OR GEAN, 



Synonymes. 



LinnjEUS, Species Plantarum. 

 De Candolle, Prodromus. 

 LoTjDON, Arboretum Britannicum. 



France. 



Germany, 

 Italy. 



- Britain. 



Prunus avium, 



Cerasus avium, 



Cerasus sylvestris, 



Merisier, Merise grosse noire, Guignier, 



Bigarreautier, Heaumier, 

 Susser Kirschbaum, 

 Ciregiolo, Ciriegiolo, 

 Gean, Bigarreau, Corone, Coroon, SmalF 



Black Cherry-tree, Black Hertfordshire 



Cherry-tree, Black Heart Cherry-tree, 



Black INIazzard Cherry-tree, 

 Merry-tree, Peasants of Cheshire (Eng.) 



Merries, (the fruit,) Norfolk (En&.) 



Derivations. According to Mr. Loudon, this cherry is called Corone, (a crow,) in some parts of England, in reference to its 

 blackness. Mirisier xa said to Ije derived from the words amire, bitter, and cerise, a cherry ; and Merry-tree and Merries, ara 

 evidently corruptions from it. Bigarreau is derived from bigarrie, party-coloured, because the cherries known by this name 

 are generally of two colours, yellow and red ; and Heaumier is from the French word heaume, a helmet, from the shape of the 

 fruit. 



Engravings. Selby, British Forest Trees, pp. 53, 61, 63, 64; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, vi., pi. 113; and the figures 

 below. 



Specific Characters. Branches vigorous and divaricate ; the buds from which the fruits are produced, 

 oblong-acute. Flowers in umbel-like groups, sessile, not numerous. Leaves oval-lanceolate, pointed, 

 serrated, somewhat pendent, slightly pubescent on the under side, and furnished with two glands at 

 the base. De Candolle, Prodromus. 



Description. 



:^^!^HE Cerasus sylves- 



f2 h H 1^ tris, in favourable 



1)) U 1^ situations, often ac- 



W^^^^ quires a height of 

 sixty or seventy feet, in fifty or sixty 

 years, with a trunk of proportionate size, 

 and sufficiently large for the general pur- 

 poses of construction. In the progress of 

 its growth to maturity, the form of its 

 head is pyramidal, the branches springing .. 

 from the main stem, at regular intervals, \ 

 or at the commencement of the annual 

 shoot ; and as its spray is stiff, strong, and open in its character, it firmly resists 

 the fury of the winds. Its foliage, though handsome and pleasing to the eye, is 

 considered too uniform and unbroken to produce picturesque effect; yet "in 

 autumn, when it assumes a deep purplish-red colour, it gives great richness to 

 the landscape, and contrasts well," as Selby expresses it, " with the yellows and 

 browns which predominate at that season." Its flowers, which are produced in 

 profusion in April or May, from their snowy whiteness, blend well with those of 

 the almond and the scarlet thorn. The fruit, well known in Britain by the name 

 of gean^ is usually of a very deep, dark-red, or black, when ripe, but sometimes 

 it is of a bright-red ; its pulp and juice is small in quantity, usually of the colour 

 of the fruit, austere and bitter before it comes to maturity, and insipid or sweet, 



