SHRUBS BELONGING TO THE ROSE FAMILY. 47 



The most familiar shrub of our Northern roadsides 

 is the common choke cherry (Prunus Virginiana). 

 This is usually not over five feet high, although in 

 some localities it attains the proportions of a good- 

 sized tree. Its leaf is abruptly pointed, and it is 

 usually broadest just beyond the middle; in 

 other words, it is reverse egg-shaped ; both 

 leaf and branch when bruised are not very 

 agreeably odorous. In early May its 

 beautiful tassels of white flowers ap- 

 pear, and these in late July are suc- 

 ceeded by clusters of red 

 berries almost as bright 

 as currents ; by the 

 end of August the 

 red has turned to 

 black, and the cher- 

 ries are ripe. If one does not 

 mind having the mouth puckered 

 so it becomes difficult to speak, 

 I presume this fruit may be con- Sand Cherry> 

 sidered edible ; but I prefer to 

 leave it for the birds. I suppose tons of these ber- 

 ries are produced every season on the intervales and 

 roadsides beneath the giant hills of Xew Hamp- 

 shire ; they cling to the bushes, too, until quite 

 late in the fall ; it is scarely strange, therefore, that 



