30 THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK 



the two species grow spontaneously — the former suckers from the root 

 Httle or not at all, making it a suitable plant for a stock in orchard work, 

 while the latter suckers so much as to make it unfit for use as a stock. 



Prunus avium is variously divided by botanists and pomologists. 

 Whatever distinct forms of the species may exist in the wild state, they 

 are now interminably confused by hybridization under cultivation. It is 

 impossible to divide the species into botanical varieties from the characters 

 of the horticultural varieties, as many botanists have attempted to do. 

 The species can be roughly divided into two pomological groups, the 

 distinguishing character being the texture of the flesh. 



Sweet Cherries with soft, tender flesh form one group known by 

 pomologists under the French group name Guigne or the English Gean. 

 These are also the Heart cherries of common parlance. These soft- 

 fruited cherries may again be divided into dark colored varieties with 

 reddish juice and light colored sorts with colorless juice. Typical light 

 colored Geans are Coe, Ida, Elton and Waterloo; dark colored ones are 

 Black Tartarian, Early Purple and Eagle. It is to this group of cherries 

 that Linnaeus gave the varietal name Juliana and De CandoUe the specific 

 name Cerasus Juliana. 



The second group is distinguished by the firm, breaking flesh of the 

 fruits — the Bigarreaus of several languages, the name originally having 

 reference to the diverse colors of the fruits. This group is further divisi- 

 ble in accordance with color of fruit and juice into black Bigarreaus and 

 light Bigarreaus. Chief of the black cherries falling into this division 

 are Windsor, Schmidt and Mezel; of the light ones, which are much more 

 numerous. Yellow Spanish and Napoleon are representative sorts. Lin- 

 naeus called these hard-fleshed cherries Prunus avium duracina; De CandoUe 

 called them Cerasus duracina; K. Koch, Prunus avium decumana; and 

 Roemer, Cerasus bigarella. 



Besides these two orchard forms of Prunus avium several other horti- 

 cultural forms, quite as distinct or even more so, are grown as ornamentals, 

 some of which are listed as distinct species or as botanical varieties of 

 Prunus avium. To add to the confusion, a number of Latinized garden 

 names are more or less commonly applied to these ornamental Sweet 

 Cherries. Schneider,^ in revising the genus Prunus, names four botanical 

 forms of Prunus avium and two natural hybrids with other species. 



' Schneider, C. K. Handb. Laubh. 1:1906; 2:1912. 



