PRUNUS 249 



Native of the mountains of the Levant, where it usually makes a close, 

 stunted bush, very unlike the rather free-growing plant seen in this country. 

 It needs a sunny position, and is admirably suited on some roomy shelf 

 in the rock garden fully exposed to the sun. In such a position, following 

 a hot summer, it flowers profusely enough to almost hide its branches. It 

 is perfectly hardy at Kew, and it is rather remarkable that it remains so 

 rare and little known, seeing that it was introduced (from Mt. Lebanon) 

 in 1802. 



P. PSEUDOCERASUS, Lindley. 



The typical form of this cherry, first described in 1826 by Lindley in 

 vol. vi. of the Transactions of the Horticultural Society, Is probably not now 

 in cultivation. The following description is made from Lindley's type 

 specimen now preserved in the Herbarium of Cambridge University : Young 

 shoots slightly hairy. Leaves broadly ovate or obovate, 2 to 4^ ins. long by 

 \\ to 2\> ins. wide ; wedge-shaped or almost rounded at the base, the apex 

 abruptly narrowed to a long point, margins doubly toothed, both surfaces, 

 but especially the lower one, hairy on the midrib and veins ; stalk J to \ in. 

 long, hairy. Flowers in short racemes, sometimes reduced to a fascicle, of 

 usually four blossoms ; each flower f in. across, the five petals jagged at the 

 apex, borne on a bristly hairy stalk \ to f in. long ; calyx-tube hairy, the 

 lobes ovate-triangular, glabrous. 



Such is the plant to which Lindley first gave the name. What Lindley 

 considered to be the same, or a slight form of it, was in 1829 figured in the 

 Bot. Reg., t. 800, as P. paniculata, but nearly all the trees found in gardens 

 to-day as P. pseudocerasus are double-flowered varieties of P. serrulata 

 (q.v.}. Of those that can be provisionally placed under P. pseudocerasus 

 the best known is WATERERI, which is a tree 15 to 20 ft. high, whose leaves 

 when young are clothed with a dense covering of soft hairs on both surfaces; 

 from the upper one they mostly fall away towards the end of the season, but 

 the lower surface remains soft and velvety to the end. Flowers double, 2 ins. 

 in diameter, white deeply tinged with rose. It may be remarked that whilst 

 the leaves of Lindley's type are hairy only on the midrib and veins, those 

 of Waterer's cherry are hairy all over. I do not believe they belong to 

 the same species. The double cherry known as SiEBOLDll also belongs 

 here. 



Although neither so vigorous nor' so hardy as the forms of P. serrulata, 

 these cherries are amongst the most beautiful of our April and May flowering 

 trees. 



P. PUMILA, Linnceus. DWARF AMERICAN CHERRY. 



A deciduous shrub of variable stature, often a low bush about 2 ft. high, 

 but sometimes a slender shrub 6 to 8 ft. high, with erect, dark branches ; 

 branchlets smooth. Leaves narrowly obovate, i^ to 2 ins. long, about one- 

 third as wide ; slightly toothed towards the apex, entire at the narrowed 

 base, greyish green. Flowers white (sometimes rather dull) about \ in. across, 

 produced in stalkless umbels of two to four, each flower on a stalk \ to \ in. 

 long. Fruit black or red, \ to \ in. diameter, without bloom, bitter. 



Var. DEPRESSA (P. depressa, Pursh\ A prostrate form growing flat on 

 the ground and scarcely rising more than 12 ins. from it. 



Native of the north-eastern United States ; cultivated in England in 

 1756. Its flowers appear in mid-May, and although small, so profusely are 

 they borne that it is very pretty then, especially if grown in a mass, and if 

 the whitest flowered forms are obtained, for some are much purer than others. 

 Propagated by cuttings and layers. This species may be regarded as the 

 II R 



