120 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
A tree not unfrequently 20 to 30 feet high, and sometimes 
considerably more, with a single trunk covered with smooth 
greyish bark. Branches spreading, arranged so as to form a 
rounded head. Leaf-stalk shorter than the lamina, with a gland at 
the base of each side of the latter, which is 2 to 6 inches long, 
widest usually a little beyond the middle; coarsely serrate, with 
the serratures rounded and tipped by a gland. Stipules linear- 
triangular, ciliated, with stalked glands, deciduous. Flowers 
expanding very shortly after the young leaves appear; white, 
8 inch across. Peduncles 3 to 5 together, 1} to 2 inches long, 
drooping. Calyx-segments reflexed. Petals more or less deeply 
notched, very fugacious. Fruit 3 inch long, red or black, sub- 
globular, indented at the apex, bitter; stone sub-globose, slightly com- 
pressed, smooth, adhering to the pulp. Leaves bright-green, flaccid. 
Wild Cherry. Gean. 
French, Cerisier Mérisier. German, Vogelkirsche. 
This tree is the parent of many of our garden Cherries, and is found commonly in 
woods and thickets in many parts of Great Britain. The cultivated Cherry was intro- 
duced into our island by the Romans at an early period of their occupation ; for Pliny 
says: “ The Cherry did not exist in Italy until the victory of Lucullus over Mithridates, 
in the year of the city 680. He was the first to introduce this tree from Pontus, and now, 
in the course of 120 years, it has travelled beyond the ocean, and arrived even in Bri- 
tannia.” It is probable that the wild Cherry is indigenous to both Europe and Asia, but 
it is unquestionable that the improved and cultivated variety came from the East. It is 
said that the Cherries originally brought into Italy by Lucullus came from Cerasus or 
Cherasond, in Pontus ; but it is doubtful whether the Latin name Cerasus was derived 
from that place, or whether the town did not owe its own appellation to the abundance 
of Cherries in its neighbourhood, for the Persian word for the fruit is keras. It is very 
likely that many of our wild Cherries in the southern counties have grown from kernels 
scattered by birds, which are very fond of the fruit, the blackbird especially being a 
well-known depredator of the Cherry orchard. In the time of Evelyn the tree was as 
common in the woods as it is now: he speaks of it as “ frequent in the hedges, and 
growing wild in Hertfordshire and many places.” ‘Tradition says that the first Cherry 
orchards were planted in Kent, a county still celebrated for its beautiful Cherries. 
Lydgate, who wrote in 1415, speaks of Cherries being exposed for sale in the London 
market. Gerarde, in his “ Herbal,” published in 1597, says there were numerous vari- 
eties of Cherries in his time. Among others he mentions the black wild Cherry, the 
fruit of which he says had a “harsh, unpleasant taste,” and the Flanders or Kentish 
Cherry, of which he says, when they are thoroughly ripe, “ they have a better juice, 
but watery, cold, and moist.” In the survey and valuation made in 1649 of the manor and 
mansion belonging to Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles I., at Wimbledon, in Surrey, 
previous to its sale during the Commonwealth, it appears that there were upwards of 
two hundred Cherry-trees in the garden. The number of varieties now cultivated in 
our gardens and sold in the great fruit markets of England must be very great. Some 
years ago forty different sorts were enumerated, and no doubt their number has now 
increased. In Don’s “ Gardener’s Dictionary,” indeed, we find fifty sorts mentioned 
under the names of Bigareaus Hearts. 
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