232 PRUNUS 



quantities in July in the fruit shops of southern watering-places, having been 

 imported from the Continent. They are used for tarts, etc., like ordinary 

 plums. A considerable number of varieties have been put upon the market 

 by French and German nurserymen, some of which are absolutely worthless. 

 The best known is 



Var. PISSARDI (var. atropurpurea, Dippel ; P. Pissardi, Carriere}. In 

 spring this tree, like the type, is laden with blossom, which is of a delicate 

 rose. Its foliage, however, is its most distinctive feature ; when it first 

 expands it is of a tender ruby-red, changing later to claret colour, finally to 

 a dull heavy purple. Its fruits, too, are purple. This variety was first noted 

 in Persia by Mr Pissard, gardener to the Shah, and by him was sent to France 

 in 1 880, whence it rapidly spread in cultivation, and is . now a very common 

 tree. 



Var. BLIREIANA (P. Blireiana, Andre}. Foliage purple ; flowers " double," 

 bright rose-coloured ; the best variety. Var. MOSERI is another of the same 

 type, with brightly coloured very beautiful flowers and dark purple leaves. 



Var. ELEGANS (syn. " Louis Asselin "). Leaves narrower and edged with 

 white. 



P. CERASUS, Linnceus. WILD DWARF CHERRY. 



(Cerasus vulgaris, Miller.') 



A deciduous bush or small rounded tree, suckering at the root and often 

 making thickets in a wild state, but 10 to 20 ft. high under cultivation. 

 Leaves oval or ovate, abruptly short-pointed, IT? to 3 ins. long, half to two- 

 thirds as wide ; smooth on both surfaces, rather lustrous above, the margins 

 set with double gland-tipped teeth ; stalk \ to f in. long, usually glanded. 

 Flowers pure white, f to I in. across, produced in clusters, each flower on a 

 stalk | in. long. Fruit red to blackish, roundish and depressed, with soft, 

 juicy, acid flesh. 



Native of Europe, including Britain, and one of the parents of the 

 cultivated fruit-bearing cherries including the morellos. Some authorities 

 have united it with P. acida and P. Avium as a species, but P. Cerasus 

 produces suckers from the roots, and never makes a tall quick-growing tree 

 like P. Avium, with its clean leader and pyramidal form when young ; the 

 leaves of P. Cerasus are nearly or entirely without down ; and, perhaps more 

 important than all, the fruit is not sweet nor bitter, but acid, the stone round. 

 It is much more difficult to provide distinctions between P. Cerasus and 

 P. acida, and the latter may have been derived from P. Cerasus in cultivation. 

 It is considered to be distinguishable by its still dwarfer, more bushy form, 

 its smaller leaves and more elongated stone. 



Var. FLORE PLENO. The typical P. Cerasus is scarcely worth a place in 

 gardens, and its flowers are neither so beautiful nor so durable as this double- 

 flowered variety (often known also as " Rhexi " or " ranunculiflora "). The 

 flowers are pure white, r^ ins across, very " Double," with stalks almost twice 

 as long as in the type. A worthy rival of P. Avium flore pleno. 



Vars. GLOBOSA and HUMILIS are dwarfed forms very useful on small 

 areas ; flowers single. 



Var. MARASCA. A vigorous tree whose fruits are employed in the manu- 

 facture of the famous Maraschino liqueur in Dalmatia, especially about the 

 town of Zara. 



Var. MULTICARPA. A strong-growing, large-leaved form, with long- 

 stalked single flowers, which derives its name from often liaving two fruits 

 united. 



Var. SALICIFOLIA. Leaves long and narrow, 4 to 6 ins. long, about one- 

 fourth as wide, coarsely and doubly toothed. A striking variety with single 

 flowers. 



