ROSE TRIBE 



81 



5-cleft ; petals 5 ; styles 2-5 ; fruit fleshy or juicy, with 5 horny, 

 2-seeded cells. (Name from the Latin, pyrus, a pear.) 



14. Mespilus (Medlar). Calyx 5-cleft, divisions leaflike ; petals 

 5 ; styles 2-5 ; fruit fleshy, top-shaped, terminating abruptly, with 

 the ends of the bony cells exposed. (Name from the Greek, mespile 

 a medlar.) 



15. Crataegus (Hawthorn). Calyx 5-cleft, divisions acute ; 

 petals 5 ; styles 1-5 ; fruit oval or round, concealing the ends of the 

 bony cells. (Name from the Greek, cratos, strength, in allusion to 

 the hardness of the wood.) 



16. Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster). Small trees or shrubs with 

 small and usually entire leaves ; flowers small and generally solitary ; 

 sepals 5 ; petals 5 ; stamens indefinite ; carpels 2-5, not joined to 

 each other, but inserted by their backs on the calyx tube ; fruit 

 2 to 5-chambered. (Name of classical origin.) 



1. Prunus (Plum and Cherry) 

 Fruit covered with bloom ; young leaf with halves rolled together 



1. P. spinosa (Sloe, Blackthorn). 

 Branches very thorny ; leaves narrow, 

 elliptical, smooth above, slightly downy 

 near the midrib below ; flowers mostly 

 solitary. A well-known thorny bush, 

 which probably derived its name Black- 

 thorn from the hue of its bark, which 

 is much darker than that of the Haw- 

 thorn. The flowers appear in March 

 and April, and usually before the 

 leaves have begun to expand. The 

 latter are used to adulterate tea. The 

 fruit is small, nearly round, and so 

 austere that a single drop placed on the 

 tongue will produce a roughness on the 

 throat and palate which is perceptible 

 for a long time. It enters largely into 

 the composition of spurious port wine, and sloe gin is a most 

 comforting beverage. Woods and hedges ; abundant. Fl. March 

 to May. Shrub. 



2. P. insititia (Bullace). Branches ending in a thorn ; leaves 

 elliptical, downy beneath ; flowers in pairs. Larger than the last, 

 and producing a larger and more palatable black or yellow fruit. 

 The leaves and flowers expand about the same time. This is by 

 some botanists considered merely a variety of the preceding. 

 P. domestica (Wild Plum) appears to be as closely connected with 

 the Bullace as that is with the Sloe ; the branches are thornless and 



Prunus Spinosa 

 (Sloe or Blackthorn) 



