206 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



downy on the under side, the fruit sweet; 2. Prunus 

 cerasus, Linn?eus, shorter, with suckers from the roots, 

 leaves glabrous, and fruit more or less sour or bitter. 



The first of these species, from which the white 

 and black cherries are developed, is wild in Asia; in 

 the forest of Ghilan (north of Persia), in the Russian 

 provinces to the south of the Caucasus and in Armenia ; ^ 

 in Europe in the south of Russia proper, and generally 

 from the south of Sweden to the mountainous parts of 

 Greece, Italy, and Spain.^ It even exists in Algeria.^ 



As we leave the district to the south of the Caspian 

 and Black Seas, the bird-cherry becomes less common, 

 less natural, and determined more perhaps by the birds 

 which seek its fruit and carry the seeds from place to 

 place.* It cannot be doubted that it was thus naturalized, 

 from cultivation, in the north of India,^ in many of the 

 plains of the south of Europe, in Madeira,^ and here and 

 there in the United States ; "^ but it is probable that in 

 the greater part of Europe this took place in prehistoric 

 times, seeing that the agency of birds was employed 

 before the first migrations of nations, perhaps before 

 there were men in Europe. Its area must have extended 

 in this region as the glaciers diminished. 



The common names in ancient languages have been 

 the subject of a learned article by Adolphe Pictet,^ but 

 nothing relative to the origin of the species can be 

 deduced from them ; and besides, the different species and 

 varieties have often been confused in popular nomencla- 

 ture. It is far more important to know whether archse- 

 ology can tell us anything about the presence of the 

 bird-cherry in Europe in prehistoric times. 



^ Ledebour, Fl. Ross., ii. p. 6 ; Boissier, Fl. Orient., ii. p. 649. 



2 Ledebour, ibid,; Fries, Surama Scand., p. 46 ; Nyman, Gonspec. Fl. 

 Eur., p. 213 ; Boissier, ihid. ; Willkomm and Lange, Prodr. Fl. Eisp., 

 iii. p. 245. 



3 Mnnby, Catal. Alger. j edit. 2, p. 8. 



* As the cherries ripen after the season when birds migrate, thej 

 disperse the stones chiefly in the neighbourhood of the plantations. 



* Sir J. Hooker, Fl. of Brit. India. 



^ Lowe, Manual of Madeira, p. 235. 



^ Darlington, Fl. Cestrica, edit. 3, p. 73. 



^ Ad. Pictet, Origines Indo-Europ., edit. 2, vol. i. p. 281. 



