VIRGINIAN CHERRY-TKEE. 269 



roundish form, purplish-black colour, and edible, but slightly bitter to the taste. 

 It arrives at maturity at .St. Mary's, in Georgia, by the first of June, but not in 

 the northern states and Canada before August or September, when it afibrds great 

 nourishment to several species of birds. 



Varieties. Much confusion has long existed among authors with regard to the 

 choke cheny, (Prunus virginiana, of Linna3us,) and the wild cherry (Prunus 

 serotina, of Ehrhart.) They appear to have been confounded by Michaux and 

 others, who mistook the latter for the choke cherry, and consequently described 

 it under the name of Cerasns virginifma ; but, as we believe that they both 

 belong to the same species, this is to us a matter of very little consequence. By 

 comparing the two trees in a state of cultivation, it will be difiicult to discover 

 anything like a specific distinction, or as Mr. Loudon says, even sufficient to 

 constitute a race. The serratures, and the tufts of hairs on the under sides of 

 the leaves, are, undoubtedly, variable ; and those who are familiar with the 

 European bird cherry, (Cerasus padns,) know how little dependence is to be 

 placed upon its foliage, when under cultivation ; and in truth, it is so nearly 

 allied to the species under consideration, that Seringe, in De CandoUe's " Pro- 

 dromus,'' seems to doubt if it be really distinct. Admitting the above remarks 

 10 bexorrect, the variations of the Cerasus virginiana are as follows: 



1. C. V. PRECOX. Early-fruited Virgiinan Cherry-tree; Choke Cherry; Pru- 

 nus virginiana, of Linnseas; Cerasns virginiana^ of Torrey and Gray: Prunus 

 serotina, of Pursh ; Cei'asus serotina, of Loudon. This variety differs from the 

 species in having broadly-oval leaves, abruptly acuminated, being sometimes 

 sub-cordate at the base, very sharply, and often doubly serrate, and generally 

 hairy in the axils of the veins beneath ; the petals are orbicular ; the fruit sub- 

 globose, of a glossy scarlet-red, when ripe, sweet and pleasant, but so very 

 astringent, that it dries the mouth and throat like the juice of spruce cones, 

 when swallowed. In the northern states and Canada, it usually ripens its fruit 

 several weeks earlier than the black cherry-tree ; hence the name prcccox. 



2. C. V. CAPOLLiN, De CandoUe. Capollin Bird Cherry-tree, native of Mexico, 

 and known by its lanceolate, serrated, glabrous leaves, resembling in form, and 

 nearly in size, those of the Salix fragilis ; and the whole tree appears so much 

 like the Cerasus virginiana, that there is but little doubt of its being only a vari- 

 ety of this species, but of a larger and more luxuriant growth. 



Geography, Soil, 6)'c. The Cerasus virginiana is found, in greater or less 

 abundance, along the Atlantic parts of America, from Mexico to Hudson's Bay. 

 It especially abounds in Upper Canada, and the country west of the Alleghanies, 

 and probably is nowhere more profusely multiplied, nor more fully developed, 

 than in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. In the southern and maritime parts of 

 Georgia, and the Carolinas, where the summers are intensely hot, and where the 

 soil is generally dry and sandy, it is but sparingly produced; and on the banks 

 of rivers, where the ground is very wet, it is rather limited in its dimensions ; but 

 in the upper parts of these states, where the climate is more temperate, and the 

 soil is more fertile, it becomes more common, though less abundant than in the 

 slates of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and New York. 



This species appears to have been among the first American trees that were 

 introduced into England; having been cultivated there by Parkinson, in 1629, 

 under the name of "Virginian cherry-bay." It is, at present, very common in 

 British collections, and is growing in several of the gardens of the continent. 

 'I'he largest recorded specimen in England, is at Bagshot Park, in Surrey, which 

 is about fifty years old, and forty feet in height. In the botanic garden at Geneva, 

 in Switzerland, there is also another tree of this species, of about the same dimen- 

 sions. 



