284 



cultivation artificially effects in the same and others to a more ex- 

 alted degree of perfection. 



flPrunus domesticus. By this name I designate (whether right or 

 wrong I know not) a still larger form of our wild plums which occurs 

 here and there in the Isle of Wight, chiefly in hedge-rows in the en- 

 closed country, and hence perhaps less truly spontaneous than the 

 two preceding. In this the leaves are large, obovate, the peduncles 

 mostly solitary and the fruit still larger than in P. insititia, yet cer- 

 tainly not with us at all oblong, but perfectly globose. 



% Padus. Very rare, and I have no doubt naturalized. In 



a thicket near St. John's, Ryde, but sparingly, and certainly, I think, 

 introduced. Under the rocks, below Cook's Castle, between Shank- 

 lin and Appuldurcombe in some plenty, but scarcely indigenous. I 

 have not heard of its occurrence elsewhere in the island or county, 

 though as it is found wild in some parts of Kent, it may be eventually 

 discovered with us in the same condition. 



Avium. Common everywhere, and in some parts of the 



Isle of Wight abundant in woods and copses, attaining, occasionally, 

 to a large size and height, and making a fine appearance in our 

 woods when in blossom in April and May. In general the fruit with 

 us is small, red, bitter and uneatable (red cherry), but in the sandy 

 soil at Bordwood, Isle of Wight, and about Southampton, are trees 

 which produce black, sweet and excellently flavoured fruit (black 

 cherry, black heart), which is sold in the market. The two varieties 

 are perfectly distinguishable by their flowers and foliage. I am sorry 

 to see this truly distinct and well-marked species degraded from its 

 rank in the 'London Catalogue of British Plants,' and absolutely as- 

 tonished to find it therein set down as a variety of P. Cerasus ! Had 

 the case been reversed, my surprise would have been less, but to find 

 the greater and more widely diffused of our wild cherries merged into 

 the smaller and far rarer, does, I confess, puzzle me exceedingly to 

 account for. 



Cerasus. In hedges, thickets, the sunny borders of woods 



and glades, and on steep banks, not common, though abundant in se- 

 veral spots in the Isle of Wight, and apparently quite indigenous. 

 It is particularly fond of growing on slopes, which it sometimes 

 covers with a thicket of bushes eight, ten, or twelve feet in height. 

 Such a thicket may be seen on a hill-side, surrounded by cornfields, 

 about half a mile west of Niton church, and along the crests of high, 

 chalky or sandy banks in various parts of the island. The fruit, 



