CHAP. XLII. ROSA‘CEZ 671 
Ovaries many, several, or solitary; each of one cell that includes, in most 
cases, | ovule; in some, 1 to many ovules. Style lateral or terminal. Leaves 
alternate, in nearly all stipulate; pinnately divided, or simple. (Dec. and 
Lindley.) Fruit, in many of the genera, edible. 
Description, §c. |The ligneous species which constitute this order include 
the finest flowering shrub in the world, the rose; and the trees which pro- 
duce the most useful and agreeable fruits of temperate climates, viz. the 
apple, the pear, the plum, the cherry, the apricot, the peach, and the nec- 
tarine. The plants are, for the most part, deciduous low trees or shrubs, 
all producing flowers more or less showy; and the greater number fruits 
which are edible. They are chiefly natives of Europe and Asia; but 
several of them are also found in North America, and some in South 
America, and the north of Africa. The fruit-bearing species, and the rose, 
have followed man from the earliest period of civilisation, and are, perhaps, 
better known to mankind in general than any other ligneous plants. The 
medical properties of several of the species are remarkable, from the circum- 
stance of their yielding the prussic acid ; while others produce a gum nearly 
allied to the gum Arabic, which indicates a degree of affinity between this 
order and Leguminacez. The bark of some species, as of Cérasus virginiana, 
is used, in North America, as a febrifuge ; and that of others, as the capollin 
cherry (Cérasus Capollin), for tanning, in Mexico. The leaves of Crate gus 
Oxyacantha, Prius spinosa, Cérasus sylvéstris, and Rosa rubigindsa have been 
used as a substitute for tea, or for adulterating tea. The leaves and bark of the 
spireeas are said to be at once astringent and emetic. There are two charac- 
teristics of this order, with reference to its cultivation, which are of great 
importance to the gardener : the first is, the liability of almost all the species 
to sport, and produce varieties differing, in many cases, more from one 
another, than they differ from other species ; and the second is, that they are 
remarkably subject to the attacks of insects and diseases. In point of culti- 
vation, they almost all require a free soil, not overcharged with moisture, and 
rich rather than poor; and, while all the species are increased by seeds, 
which, for the most part are produced freely in Britain, almost all the varieties 
are best increased by grafting or budding; and not, as in some other orders, 
with equal ease by cuttings or layers. 
Arrangement of the Genera. The ligneous genera are included by De 
Candolle in five tribes ; and the following are their names and distinctions ; the 
latter derived mainly from Decandolle’s Prodromus, but partly from personal 
r 
observation, and Lindley’s Introd. to Nat. Syst.: — 
Sect. I. Amyapa‘Ltes® Juss. 
Sect. Char, Fruit a drupe; the nut 2-ovuled, 1—2-seeded. Style terminal. 
Calyx deciduous. Leaves feather-nerved, undivided, serrate, with the 
lower serratures or the petioles glanded. Stipules not attached to the 
petiole. Kernel containing more or less of hydrocyanic acid. 
Amy’epaLus Tourn. Covering of the nut not very fleshy or juicy, its 
surface downy ; nut even, or perforated with little holes. Young leaves 
folded flatwise. Flowers almost sessile, solitary or twin, protruded 
before the leaves. 
Pe'rsica Tourn. Covering of the nut very fleshy and juicy, its surface 
downy or smooth; nut with wrinkled furrows. The characters of the 
other parts described under Amyegdalus are the same in Pérsica. 
ARMENI‘ACA Tourn. Covering of the nut fleshy, juicy, its surface downy; 
nut obtuse at one end, acute at the other, furrowed at both lateral edges, 
in the other parts even. Young leaves with their edges rolled inwards. 
Flowers almost sessile, solitary or a few together, protruded before the 
leaves. 
Pru‘nus Tourn. Drupe ovate, or oblong; covering of the nut fleshy, 
juicy, its surface glabrous, and covered with a grey bloom; nut compressed, 
acute at both ends, indistinctly furrowed at the edges, in the other parts 
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