28 THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK 



Prunus cerasus marasca, a disposition which we beHeve to be the best. 

 The Marasca cherries differ from the other cultivated forms chiefly in 

 the greater vigor of the trees, relatively finer serrations of the leaves, longer 

 stipules and a more compact inflorescence. The fruits are much smaller 

 than in the common Sour Cherries, are deep red or almost black in color 

 and have intensely red flesh and juice. The cherries are very acid with a 

 bitter taste that gives flavor to the maraschino made from them. 



Besides these divisions of the species cultivated for their fruits 

 botanists describe several botanical forms which either have no horti- 

 cultural value or are cultivated exclusively as ornamentals. It is not 

 necessary to discuss these in a pomological work. Of these botanical 

 derivatives of Prunus cerasus, Schneider enumerates nine and three hybrids 

 between this and other species.^ 



PRUNUS AVIUM Linnaeus. 

 I. Linnaeus Fl. Suec. ed. 2:165. 1755- 

 P. nigricans. 2. Ehrhart Beitr. 7:126. 1792. 

 P. varia. 3. Ehrhart /. c. 127. 1792. 

 P. sylvesiris. 4. Persoon Syn. PI. 2:35. 1807. 

 P. dulcis. 5. Miller ex Reichenbach Fl. Germ. Exc. 644. 1832. 

 Cerasus nigra. 6. Miller Gard. Diet. ed. 8:No. 2. 1768. 

 C. Avium. 7. Moench MHh. 672. 1794. 

 C. varia. 8. Borkhausen, in Roemer .4/-c/j. i., 2:38. 1796. 

 C. Juliana. 9. De Candolle Fl. Fran. 4:483. 1805. 

 C. duracina. 10. De Candolle I. c. 1805. 

 C. rubictinda. 11. Bechstein Forsib. 160, 335. 1810. 



C. intermedia. 12. Host Fl. Austr. 2:7. 1831, not Loisel. in Duham. 1812. 

 C. decumana. 13. Delaunay ex Seringe, in De Candolle Prodr. 2:$t,6. 1825. 

 C. macrophylla. 14. Sweet Hort. Brit. ed. 1:485. 1827. 

 C. dulcis. 15. Borkhausen ex Steudel Norn. Bot. ed. sec., 1:331. 1840. 

 C. pallida. 16. Roemer Syn. Rosifl. 69. 1847. 

 C. heterophylla. 17. Hort. ex Koch Dendrol. i:io6. 1869. 

 C. asplenifolia. 18. Hort. ex Koch /. c. 1869. 

 C. salicifolia. 19. Hort. ex Koch /. c. 1869, not Ser. in De Candolle. 1825. 



Tree reaching a height of thirty to forty feet, vigorous, upright-spreading, open- 

 topped, semi-hardy, usually with a central leader; trunk a foot or more in diameter 

 roughened; branches rather stocky, smooth, dull ash-gray, with few small lenticels; branch- 

 lets thick, long, with long intemodes, grayish-brown, smooth, with small, inconspicuous 

 lenticels. 



Leaves resinous at opening, more or less drooping, numerous, four to six inches long, 

 two to three inches wide, strongly conduplicate, oblong-ovate, thin; upper surface dark 

 green, rugose or sometimes smooth; lower surface dull green, more or less pubescent; apex 

 acute, base more or less abrupt; margin coarsely and doubly serrate, glandular; petiole 



' Schneider, C. K. Handb. Laubh. 1:1906; 2:1912. 



