APKIL 1 TO JUNE 30, 1914. 129 



38416 to 38427— Continued. 



38426. Prunxjs spinosa macrocarpa Wallroth. Sloe. 



A large-seeded form of the sloe, which W. J. Bean (Trees and 

 Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles, vol. 2, p. 253-254) describes as 

 " a deciduous, suckering shrub 10 to 15 feet high, or in gardens a 

 small tree ; bark of young shoots downy, many short branches ter- 

 minated by a spine. Leaves varying from obovate to oval and 

 ovate, three-fourths of an inch to If inches long, one-half to three- 

 fourths of an inch wide, sharp toothed, downy beneath on the midrib 

 and veins, becoming sometimes quite glabrous with age. Flowers 

 produced in March or early April, usually on the naked wood, singly, 

 sometimes in pairs, from the previous year's buds, each one-half to 

 three-fourths of an inch across, pure white, and borne on a smooth 

 stalk one-fifth of an inch long. Fruit round, half an inch in di- 

 ameter, at first blue, then shining black, very harsh to the taste. 

 The sloe is found wild in Britain and other parts of Europe as well 

 as in north Asia. It occurs in hedgerows and in woods, where it is 

 occasionally a tree over 20 feet high. It is oftenest seen in wild 

 places or poor soils as a scrubby bush. The wood of the species is 

 very hard and prized in rural districts for making hayrake teeth." 

 38427. Pterocarya fraxinifolia (Lam.) Spach. Juglandacese. 



{Pterocarya caucasica C. A. Meyer.) Caucasian walnut. 



See S. P. I. Nos. 27768 and 30809 for previous introductions. Seed 

 from the Caucasus sent by Mr. G. I. Strunnikoff. 



"A large deciduous tree, ultimately 80 to 100 feet high, usually much 

 less in this country (England) and branching low down, forming a 

 wide-spreading head ; trunk of large trees 10 to 12 feet in girth, with 

 deeply furrowed bark ; ends of young shoots minutely scurfy. Leaves 

 8 to 18 inches (sometimes over 2 feet) long, composed of from 3£ to 13i 

 pairs of leaflets; these are stalkless, oblong, obliquely rounded at the 

 base, pointed, toothed, normally 2 to 4J inches long by three-fourths of 

 an inch to If inches wide (occasionally, on vigorous shoots, 8 or 9 inches 

 long) ; dark green, smooth and glossy above, tufted with stellate hairs 

 along the midrib beneath ; common stalk round. Male catkins 3 to 5 

 inches long, cylindrical, the flowers closely packed ; female catkins 12 

 to 20 inches long, with the flowers scattered ; both pendulous ; afterwards 

 developing nuts which, with the wings, are three-fourths of an inch in 

 diameter, roundish, oblique, horned at the top. Native of the Caucasus 

 and Persia, inhabiting moist places. It was introduced to France by 

 the elder Michaux, who took back seeds from Persia in 1782. According 

 to Elwes, the finest specimen in Britain is at Melbury, in Dorset, which 

 is 90 feet high and 12 feet in girth of trunk. There is a beautiful speci- 

 men at Claremont, Surrey, which, when I saw it in 1910, measured 19 

 feet around its short, rugged trunk. The tree likes a rich, loamy soil 

 and abundant moisture, and whilst the fine specimens mentioned above 

 show that it will thrive very well in the south of England, it loves more 

 sunshine than our climate affords. The lover of trees will find nothing 

 more interesting in and around Vienna than the magnificent examples 

 of Pterocarya. There, of course, the summers are much hotter and 

 the winters colder than ours ; the tree bears fruit freely and is very 

 striking in late summer when hung with the long, slender catkins." 

 (W. J. Bean, Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles, vol. 2, p. 

 26 1-262.) 



71476°— 17 9 



