CHAP, XLII. ROSA‘CEA. PRU‘NUS. 687 
gent. The flowers, with their calyxes, are moderately purgative. The fruit 
has been considered a styptic from the time of Dioscorides. The juice ob- 
tained from the unripe fruit, and thickened to dryness by a gentle heat, forms 
the German acacia of the druggists, which was formerly sold under the name 
of Egyptian acacia; and which, Gerard says, it may be very well used in the 
stead of, as an astringent in hemorrhages. The fruit of the sloe, though 
so astringent when first ripe, ceases to be so, and becomes laxative, when it is 
on the point of beginning to decay. In domestic economy, a very good pre- 
serve is made of it. The bark has been used in tanning leather ; a decoction 
of it in alkali dyes.yellow ; and in sulphate of iron it forms a beautiful black 
ink. In Britain, at the present time, the most valuable use of the sloe thorn 
is for forming a protecting margin to ornamental plantations in parks, along 
with the U‘lex europe‘a. (See p.573.) A picturesque group of three or four 
trees, and one sloe thorn planted in the same hole with one of the trees, will, 
in a few years, give the whole group a wild character, by the suckers that the 
sloe will throw up, and form an irregular, impervious, and natural-looking mass. 
As flowering the first of all the plum tribe, the sloe is a most desirable plant 
in shrubberies, more especially the double variety ; and, where it abounds in 
thin woods, in which alone it will thrive, its stems and branches afford the 
cheapest and best protection to newly planted single trees. For this purpose, 
the lower ends of the thorn should be inserted in the soil, close by the root 
of the tree, andthe upper parts tied close round the stem, by two or more 
willow withs, at 2ft. or 3ft. apart. No single tree fence is less unsightly, 
because none is less obtrusive. The fruit and blossoms of the sloe have 
furnished numerous poetical allusions for British song-writers ; and there are 
but few popular ballads in the English language that do not contain some 
reference to this plant. The sloe prefers a strong calcareous loam. It may 
be propagated freely by suckers, or by seeds: the latter should be gathered in 
October, when the fruit is dead ripe, mixed with sand, and turned over two or 
three times in the course of the winter; and, being sown in February, they 
will come up in the month of May. The remaining treatment is mere routine. 
¥ 2. P.insiti’t1a L. The engrafted Plum Tree, or Bullace Plum. 
Identification. Lin. Sp., 680.; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 532. ; Don’s Mill., 2. p. 498. 
Synonymes. P. sylvéstris prz ‘cox altior Tourn. ; P. sylvéstris major Ray; Prunier sauvage, Fr. ; 
Kirschen Pflaume, Ger. 
Engravings. Eng. Bot., t. 841.; Hayne Abbild., t.65.; and our plate in Vol. II. 
Spec. Char., §c. Branches becoming spiny. Flowers in pairs. Leaves ovate 
or lanceolate ; villose beneath, not flat. Fruit roundish. (Dec. Prod., ii. 
p- 532.) Found wild in England, Germany, and the south of France, and 
also in Barbary. Seringe suggests that this species may be a variety 
of P. spinosa; and, as we are of the same opinion, we shall pass it over, 
only observing, that its fruit, which is globular, and usually black, is some- 
times yellowish, or waxy, with a red tint, and sometimes red; it is also so 
much less austere than the sloe, as to make excellent pies and puddings, 
and a very good preserve. Plants are to be procured in the nurseries. 
The fruit of this plum is known, in Dauphiné, under the name of alfatons; 
and in Provence they are called prunes sibarelles, because it is impossible 
to whistle after having eaten them, from their sourness. The wood, the 
branches, the fruit, and the entire plant are used, throughout France, for the 
same purposes as that of the sloe. 
Varieties. 
¥ P. i. 1 fréctu nigro Hort. The black-fruited, or common, Bullace. 
¥ P. i. 2 frictu liteo-dlbo Hort. The yellowish-white-fruited Bullace. 
¥ P. i. 3 fréctu ribro Hort. The red-fruited Bullace. 
¥ P..i. 4 flore pléno Hort., the double-flowered Bullace, is mentioned 
by Descemet in Mém. de la Russie Meéridionale, 1. p. 63. 
¥ 3. P. pome’stica L. The domestic cultivated Plum Tree. 
Identification. _ Lin. Sp., 680. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 533. ; Don’s Mill. 2. p. 499. 
Synonymes. P. sativa Fuchs and Ray; Prunier domestique, Fr. ; gemeine Pflaume, Ger. 
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