THE DRUPE-FRUITS 155 



225. Groups of cherries. — Sour cherries cultivated for their 

 fruits are divided into two groups, each of which has many 

 varieties. A third section is g-rown for the manufacture of a 

 liqueur. The gi'oups cultivated for their fruits vary greatly 

 in tree and fruit, but have one character on which the division 

 is made ; the juice in the fruits of one gi^oup is red, in the other 

 it is colorless. 



(1) The Amarelles. — Cherries with colorless juice are called 

 Amarelles, from the Latin amanis, hitter, a name probably first 

 employed by the Germans but now in general use wherever 

 cherries are grown. These Amarelles are pale red fruits, more 

 or less flattened at the ends. Despite the derivation of the 

 name Amarelle, they have less bitterness than the other group 

 of varieties of the sour cherry. They are also less acid than the 

 darker colored cherries, and are therefore more suitable for 

 eating out of hand, the dark-colored sorts being almost exclu- 

 sively culinary fruits. The common representatives of this 

 group are Early Richmond, Montmorency, and the various 

 cherries to which the word Amarelle is affixed, as King Amarelle 

 and Spate Amarelle. 



(2) The MoreUos. — The second group, the Morellos, are 

 varieties with reddish juice and usually with very dark fruits, 

 which are more spherical or cordate in shape than the Amarelles, 

 the Morellos of several languages or the Griottes of the French. 

 The first term has reference to the color, the word Morello com- 

 ing from the Italian, meaning hlackish; while Griotte, from the 

 French, probably is derived through agriotte from aigre, mean- 

 ing sharp, in reference to the acidity of the fruits. Weichsel 

 is a German group name for these cherries, less commonly used 

 than the other two terms. The trees of the Morello-like varie- 

 ties are usually smaller, bushier, and more compact than those 

 of the Amarelles. The branches, as a rule, are more horizontal, 

 often drooping, are less regularly arranged and more slender. 

 The leaves, in typical varieties, are of a darker green, smaller, 

 thinner, and pendent, while those of the Amarelles are either 

 horizontal or inclined to be upright ; the leaves are also toothed 

 less deeply and more regularly. The typical varieties of this 

 group are English Morello, Ostheim, Olivet, Brusseler Braune, 

 Vladimir, and Riga. 



