236 PRUNUS 



long. Flowers dullish white, not ^ in. across, produced six to twelve together 

 in May on corymbose clusters if ins. long ; each flower on a downy stalk 

 j to 7f in. long ; petals notched at the apex ; calyx downy, lobes rounded. 

 Fruit round, to in. diameter, red, finally almost black. 



Native of Western N. America ; introduced to Britain in 1865 by the 

 British Columbia Association, and afterwards becoming known in gardens as 

 Cerasus Pattoniana. It is a handsome tree of healthy aspect and of neat 

 habit, but its flowers are not sufficiently pure white to be really effective. 

 The bark, leaves, and fruit are permeated by an intensely bitter principle. 



P. FRUTICOSA, Pallas. GROUND CHERRY. 

 (P. 



A deciduous shrub, I to 3 ft. high, of low, spreading habit, with smooth 

 round twigs. Leaves obovate to narrowly oval, tapering to both ends, from 

 f to 2 ins. long, j to f in. wide ; with shallow, rounded teeth, dark glossy 

 green, and quite smooth ; stalk j to J in. long. Flowers white, f in. across, 

 produced in umbels of about four from buds on the previous year's shoots, 

 each flower on a slender stalk \ to I in. long. Fruits about the size of a 

 large pea, very deep reddish purple. 



Native of continental Europe and parts of Siberia ; cultivated in England 

 for more than three centuries. It is a shrub of neat and pleasing habit, 

 forming naturally a low, mound-like mass of slender branches, and wearing 

 a very healthy aspect because of the deep shining green of its foliage. In 

 gardens it is rarely seen except grafted standard high on a cherry stock. In 

 this way its branches form a mop-headed mass with the lower branches 

 pendent of their own weight, and it is called "pendula." The fruits have 

 a cherry flavour, but are too harsh and acid to be palatable. It blossoms in 

 early May. 



Var. VARIEGATA, has the leaves stained more or less with yellowish white, 

 sometimes half the leaf being of this colour, the other half green. 



P. REFLEXA, Hort. (not Gardner], is a cherry allied to P. fruticosa, and 

 perhaps a hybrid between it and some form of P. acida. It differs from 

 P. fruticosa in its more robust habit and sturdier branches, its more deeply and 

 irregularly toothed leaves (of the same shining dark green), and its shorter 

 stalked flowers. A very pretty small tree with pendulous branches. 



P. GR^ECA, Desfontaines. 



(Cerasus Fontanesiana, Spachl) 



A deciduous, quick-growing tree, 40 ft. or more high ; young shoots 

 covered with shaggy down. Leaves ovate to oval, sometimes heart-shaped, 

 3 to 5 ins. long, i^ to 2^ ins. wide ; doubly round-toothed, somewhat hairy on 

 the midrib and veins ; leaf-stalk f to \\ ins. long, very downy, glandular. 

 Flowers I in. across, white, produced on short, broad racemes of about five 

 to seven, sometimes ten, flowers from the buds of the previous year's wood, 

 each flower on a stalk \ to f in. long, the common stalk f to i in. long, downy. 

 Fruit globular, the size"of a small cherry, nearly black ; very sparingly borne. 



This tree was originally introduced to Paris from Greece, where it is 

 supposed to be a natural hybrid between P. Avium and P. Mahaleb. The 

 form of the inflorescence is certainly intermediate, and the very downy shoots 

 show P. Mahaleb. The tree has much the habit of P. Avium, and when in 

 flower it is quite as beautiful as the typical form of that species, or even 

 more so. 



