66 Fruits and Fruit- Trees. 



asylum. The shoots while young are downy; in early 

 spring long before the appearance of the leaves, 

 which, when mature, are ovate and sharply serrated 

 there is a beautiful out-flow of immaculate white blossom, 

 the flowers growing singly, or two or three together, half 

 or three quarters of an inch across, and presenting a most 

 remarkable contrast to the dark-hued bark; the fruit, 

 when ripe, is the size of a large pea, spherical, dark 

 violet, and covered with glaucous "bloom;" the pedi- 

 cels are glabrous, and the fruits, individually, are erect. 

 Some individually are astonishingly productive, others 

 seem to be absolutely barren, owing probably to some 

 defect in the reproductive organs. In flavour these little 

 plums or "sloes," are intensely harsh. In France the 

 boys call them sibarelles, since to whistle after eating 

 them is impossible. Well is the name of " sloe " applied, 

 the signification being that which sets the teeth on edge. 

 The spinosa occurs all over Europe, Britain included, also 

 in Russian Asia. The second form, P. insititia, is a 

 tall shrub or small tree, less thorny than the spinosa, 

 sometimes thornless, and having larger leaves, which are 

 already expanding when the flowers appear. These also 

 are larger. The young shoots are covered with velvety 

 down; the pedicels are either downy or glabrous; the 

 fruit is pendulous, globular, or slightly elliptical, much 

 larger than the sloe, usually purple-black, occasionally 

 reddish or yellowish, and when ripe, moderately sweet. 

 This form grows wild in the south of Europe, in the 

 regions south of the Caucasus, and in European Turkey. 



