THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK 25 



C. bigarella. 18. Dumortier Fl. Belg. 91. 1827. 



C. efusa. 19. Host Fl. Auslr. 2:6. 183 1. 



C. Marasca. 20. Host I. c. 1831. 



C. Bungei. 21. Walpers Rep. 2:9. 1843. 



C. Heaumiana. 22. Roemer Syn. Rosifl. 69. 1847. 



C. tridentina. 23. Roemer A c. 76. 1847. 



C. Rhexii. 24. Hort. Gall, ex Van Houtte Fl. Serres, S(5r. 2, 7= '59- 1868. 



C. cucicllata. 25. Hort. ex Koch Dendrol. 1:6. 1869. 



Tree low, reaching a height of twenty to thirty feet, diffuse, open-headed, round- 

 topped or spreading, often without a central leader; trunk at maturity a foot in diameter; 

 bark reddish-brown overlaid with ashy-gray, smooth or sometimes roughened; branches 

 spreading, slender and more or less drooping; branchlets slender and willowy, glabrous, 

 reddish-brown becoming darker and overspread with ashy-gray; lenticels small, numer- 

 ous, conspicuous, raised. 



Leaves resinous at opening, more or less erect, very numerous, three to four inches 

 long and from one-half to two inches wide, obovate to oval, folded upward, thick and 

 firm in texture; upper surface dark green, smooth, the lower surface paler green, with more 

 or less pubescence; apex taper-pointed or acute, base abrupt or acute; margins finely 

 serrate, often doubly so, teeth tipped with small, dark glands; petioles from a half-inch 

 to two inches long, slender, grooved, with a few hairs on the upper surface, tinged with 

 red; glands from one to four, usually small, variously colored, globose or reniform, usually 

 at the base of the blade; stipules small, lanceolate, narrow, finely serrate, early caducous. 



Winter-buds small, short, obtuse or pointed, pltmip and free, arranged singly or in 

 dusters; leaf-scars usually prominent; flowers appearing with or after the leaves, showy, 

 an inch across, white; borne in dense or scattered, very scaly clusters and in twos, threes 

 and fours on one-year-old wood ; pedicels from a half to an inch and a half in length, slender, 

 green and glabrous; calyx-tube obconic, glabrous, green or tinged with red; caljTC-lobes 

 broadly obtuse or acute, glabrous on both surfaces, reflexed, margin serrate, faintly red; 

 petals white, roundish or oval to obovate, entire or crenate, sessile or nearly so; stamens 

 about thirty, filaments one-fourth of an inch in length; anthers yellow; pistils about as 

 long as the stamens, glabrous. 



Fruit roundish-oblate or cordate, sides slightly compressed, about three-fourths of 

 an inch in diameter; suture lacking or indistinct; cavity well marked, usually abrupt; 

 apex usually depressed; color from light to dark red; dots numerous, small, russet, more 

 or less conspicuous; stem slender, from a half -inch to two inches in length, glabrous, with- 

 out bloom; skin usually separating readily from the pulp; flesh dark red, with dark colored 

 juice or pale yellow with colorless juice, tender, melting, sprightly, more or less acidulous, 

 sometimes astringent; stone free or more or less clinging, roundish, pointed or blunt, 

 smooth, less than a half inch in diameter; ventral suture usually ridged, sometimes smooth. 



The numerous synonyms of Primus cerasus indicate the state of con- 

 fusion which prevails in the scientific nomenclature of the Sour Cherry. 

 Yet the names given are scarcely a tithe of those that have been discarded 

 or superseded for a whole or a part of this species by botanists. Happily, 



