CHAP. XTJI. iiOSA^CE/E G71 



Ovaries many, several, or solitary ; each of one ceil that includes, in most 

 cases, 1 ovule ; in some, 1 to many ovules. Style lateral or terminal. Leaves 

 alternate, in nearly all stipulate; pinnately divided, or simple. {Dec. and 

 Lindlei/,) Fruit, in many of the genera, edible. 



DescriptiQu, Sfc. The ligneous species which constitute this order include 

 the finest flowering shrub in the world, the rose ; and the trees which pro- 

 duce the most useful and agreeable fruits of temperate climates, viz. the 

 apple, the pear, the plum, the cherry, the apricot, the peach, and the nec- 

 tarine. The plants are, for the most part, deciduous low trees or shrubs, 

 all producing flowers more or less showy ; and the greater number fruits 

 which are edible. They are chiefly natives of Europe and Asia; but 

 several of them are also found in North America, and some in South 

 America, and the north of Africa. The fruit-hearing species, and the rose, 

 have followed man from the earliest period of civilisation, and are, perhaps, 

 better known to mankind in general than any other ligneous plants. The 

 medical properties of several of the species are remarkable, from the circum- 

 stance of their yielding the prussic acid ; while others produce a gum nearly 

 allied to the gum Arabic, which indicates a degree of affinity between this 

 order and Leguminiiceae. The bark of some species, as of Cerasus virginiiina, 

 is used, in North America, as a febrifuge ; and that of others, as the capollin 

 cherry (Cerasus Capollin), for tanning, in Mexico. The leaves of C'ratae^gus 

 Oxyacantha, Prunus spinosa, Cerasus sylvestris, and i?6sa rubiginosa have been 

 used as a substitute for tea, or for adulterating tea. The leaves and bark of the 

 spiraeas are said to be at once astringent and emetic. There are two charac- 

 teristics of this order, with reference to its cultivation, which are of great 

 importance to the gardener : the first is, the liability of almost all the species 

 to sport, and produce varieties differing, in many cases, more from one 

 another, than they differ from other species ; and the second is, that they are 

 remarkably subject to the attacks of insects and diseases. In point of culti- 

 vation, they almost all require a free soil, not overcharged with moisture, and 

 rich rather than poor ; and, while all the species are increased by seeds, 

 which, for the most part are produced freely in Britain, almost all the varieties 

 are best increased by grafting or budding ; and not, as in some other orders, 

 with equal ease by cuttings or layers. 



Arrangement of the Genera. The ligneous genera are included by De 

 CandoUe in five tribes ; and the following are their names and distinctions ; the 

 latter derived mainl}' from Decandolle's Prodromus, but partly from personal 

 observation, and Lindley's Introd. to Nat. Sj/st. : — 



Sect. I. Amygda\eje Juss. 

 Sect. Char. Fruit a drupe; the nut 2-ovuled, 1 — 2-seeded. Style terminal. 

 Calyx deciduous. Leaves feather-nerved, undivided, serrate, with the 

 lower serratures or the petioles glanded. Stipules not attached to the 

 petiole. Kernel containing more or less of hydrocyanic acid. 

 vImy'gdalus Tourn. Covering of the nut not very fleshy or juicy, its 

 surface downy; nut even, or perforated with little holes. Young leaves 

 folded flatwise. Flowers almost sessile, solitary or twin, protruded 

 before the leaves. 

 Pe'rsica Tourn. Covering of the nut very fleshy and juicy, its surface 

 downy or smooth ; nut with wrinkled furrows. The characters of the 

 other parts described under ylmygdalus are the same in Persica. 

 y^RMENi^ACA Tourn. Covering of the nut fleshy, juicy, its surface downy; 

 nut obtuse at one end, acute at the other, furrowed at both lateral edges, 

 in the other parts even. Young leaves with their edges rolled inwards. 

 Flowers almost sessile, solitary or a few together, protruded before the 

 leaves. 

 Pru^nus Tourn. Drupe ovate, or oblong; covering of the nut fleshy, 

 juicy, its surface glabrous, and covered with a grey bloom ; nut compressed, 

 acute at both ends, indistinctly furrowed at the edges, in the other parts 



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