242 PRUNUS 



brownish yellow colour, and peeling like that of a birch ; young wood downy. 

 The leaves are ovate, rounded at the base, pointed, very finely toothed ; 

 3 or 4 ins. long, by about half as wide ; they are hairy on the midrib and 

 veins, and are rendered very distinct by being covered with glandular dots 

 on the lower surface. Raceme 2 to 3 ins. long, springing from the previous 

 season's wood; calyx-tube cylindrical, bell-shaped, the lobes glandular- 

 toothed ; petals white, not so long as the stamens. 



Introduced to cultivation by way of St Petersburg in 1910 ; the cultivated 

 plants already show the distinct, smooth, yellowish trunk. It is different 

 from ordinary bird cherries in the racemes coming on the year-old wood and 

 from the laurels in being deciduous. 



P. MAHALEB, Linnceus. ST LUCIE CHERRY. 



(Cerasus Mahaleb, Miller) 



A free-growing, deciduous tree up to 30 or 40 ft. high in gardens, with a 

 loose, spreading head of branches ; young twigs downy. Leaves broadly 

 ovate or roundish, with a short, abrupt, often blunt apex, the base rounded or 

 slightly heart-shaped, shallowly toothed ; I to 2^ ins. long, f to 2 ins. wide ; 

 almost or quite smooth above, more or less hairy on each side of the midrib 

 beneath, glossy green ; stalk \ in. long, with a pair of glands. Racemes i^ 

 to 2 ins. long, carrying six to ten flowers, which are pure white, \ to f in. 

 across, very fragrant, each on a stalk about \ in. long. The racemes spring 

 from the wood of the previous year, and are furnished towards the base with 

 small leaf-like bracts. Fruit about in. long, somewhat egg-shaped, black. 



Native of Central and S. Europe; introduced in 1714. .It flowers in the 

 last week of April and early May, and is then one of the most beautiful of 

 flowering trees, filling the air with fragrance for yards around. It is fast- 

 growing, and if planted in very rich soil is apt to become rank and ungainly. 

 In the sandy soil of Kew it thrives and blossoms remarkably well. Both the 

 true Mahaleb and its varieties may be increased by cuttings made of 

 moderately firm young wood, and placed in gentle bottom heat, also by 

 layers. The type, raised from seed, is used as a stock for grafting cherries on. 



Var. BOMMII. A variety of pendulous habit, much more marked than that 

 of var. pendula itself. 



Var. CHRYSOCARPA (fructu-flavo). Fruits yellow. 



Var. GLOBOSA. A dwarf, bushy form of rounded habit and slow growth, 

 ("compacta" is the same). 



Var. PENDULA. A very beautiful tree, more graceful than the type, yet 

 not strikingly pendulous. 



There are also coloured forms, such as FOLIIS AUREIS, with leaves more or 

 less yellow ; and VARIEGATA, which is a better tree of its class than most 

 variegated forms of this genus, the leaves having a broad, unequal margin of 

 yellowish white (syn. albo-marginata). 



P. MARITIMA, Wangenheim. SAND PLUM, BEACH PLUM. 

 (Bot. Mag., t. 8289.) 



A deciduous shrub of low, compact habit, 4 to 8 ft. high and more in 

 diameter, with grey, downy young branchlets, becoming dark with age. 

 Leaves oval or obovate, i^ to 3 ins. long, f to ij ins. wide ; saw-toothed, 

 covered beneath when young with down, which becomes reduced to the 

 midrib and veins towards the end of the season ; leaf-stalk \ in. long, downy. 

 Flowers white, \ in. across, produced in May usually in pairs or in threes at 

 each bud on last year's shoots ; on the short side spurs the flowers appear to 



