1801 



^PRI'JNUS japonica. 



llie Single Chinese Plum. 



ICOSANDRIA UOl^OGYNIA. 



Nat. ord. RosACEiE, § Amygdale^, Jkss. {Introductiun lu the Natural 

 System of Botany., p. 81.) 



PRUNUS.—Suprd, vol. 2.fol. 136. 



P. japonica. Supra, vol. l.fol. 27. Tlie double state. 



It is always interesting to procure the wild forms ot 

 cultivated species, and so see from what humble originals 

 Nature produces some of the most striking of her works. 



The double Chinese Plum, or Almond, as it is often 

 incorrectly called, is beyond all comparison the handsomest 

 plant of its season ; there is nothing to vie with its 

 crowded clusters of most delicate blushing flowers, the 

 petals of which are loosely, but symmetrically, arranged into 

 the most perfect of vegetable beauties. The simple shrub 

 now represented is its origin, and is one of the many 

 examples of the creation by the patient Chinese of the 

 fairest ornaments of the garden, from the most inconspicuous 

 plants of the woods. 



For its introduction the public is indebted to John 

 Reeves, Esq., by whom so large a proportion of all the fine 

 Chinese flowers now common all over Europe have been 

 procured for this country. 



It appears to be a hardy shrub ; our specimen, however, 

 was taken in January last, from a plant which had flowered 

 in a greenhouse. 



The double state of the species is represented in the 

 first volume of this work. 



See folio 1243. 



