JULY. 153 



AN 



ACCOUNT OF THE EVERGREEN PLUM OF CALIFORNIA 



(Cerasiis ilicifolia, Nuttall). 



A NEW hardy evergreen is at all times very desirable ; but when one 

 is introduced which combines utility with ornament, it is doubly so ; 

 and such is the case with the subject of this notice. 



The Evergreen Californian Plum grows to the size of a large 

 bush or small tree, from ten to twelve feet high, in its native moun- 

 tains, and will, I think, prove one of the finest evergreens introduced 

 for many years into England. It may very justly be compared to 

 the Holly for size and general appearance, but with smaller, rounder, 

 and more spiny leaves, and fruit as large as a middling-sized plum, 

 of a bright red colour, which is " very sweet and pleasant to eat." 

 Such is Mr, Hartweg's description of it, and as such it must be 

 classed as likely to become one of our very best autumnal orna- 

 ments, as it ripens its fruit in September ; but when it is likely to 

 become valuable as an eatable fruit, it becomes of some greater im- 

 portance. I will therefore endeavour to draw attention to its culti- 

 vation and improvement as a fruit-tree, by giving an account of all 

 that is at present known about its history and merits ; and in so 

 doing, it may be the means of bringing quite a new feature into our 

 fruit-gardens, namely, an Evergreen Cherry or Plum, whichever it 

 may be ; and if we look at the present plant, and the large- sized 

 fruit it produces, with a tendency, even in its comparatively wild 

 state (when planted by the Indians in the mountains), to produce 

 on some trees very much larger and better-flavoured fruit than on 

 others, we have at once a great point gained towards its general 

 improvement; and under the improving hand of cultivation, and 

 the horticultural skill of the present day, it may at no very distant 

 time become one of our common fruit-trees, and particularly when 

 the present large size of its fruit is taken into consideration, and its 

 tendency to vary in size and quality. 



'I'he Evergreen Plum is the Cerasus ilicifolia of Professor Nuttall ; 

 but it certainly has but little resemblance to a Cherry (Cerasus) or 

 Plum {Primus), for its flowers are produced in small racemes, some- 

 what like the flowers of the common Berberry or Bird-Cherry {Pa- 

 dus) ; but the fruit is as large as a middhng-sized Plum, has a soft 

 pulpy flesh like a Cherry, and the plant is as good an evergreen as 

 the common Holly ; the stone inside the fruit is rather large, with 

 a very thin shell, and quite smooth on the outer surface, like the 

 stone of a Cherry ; the kernel is sweet, and forms an important 

 part of the Indians' food in the autumn ; they first bake and pound 

 up the kernels into a powder, and afterwards make gruel of it, which 

 they very much esteem, and for which purpose they plant the Ever- 

 green Plum round their huts, living upon the ripe fruit while in 

 season, and afterwards upon the kernels, which are large and sweet, 

 and easily obtained, the shells being so very thin. The plant was 



