252 PRUNUS 



P. SERRULATA, Lindley. JAPANESE CHERRY. 



(Cerasus serrulata, G. Don; Bot. Mag., t. 8012, as P. pseudocerasus.) 



A deciduous, sparsely branched tree, usually under 20 ft. high in this 

 country, with more or less flat, spreading branches, and quite glabrous 

 branchlets. Leaves deep bright green, ovate to elliptical or obovate, 5 to 6 

 ins. long, i^ to 2f ins. wide ; long and taper-pointed, rounded or rather wedge- 

 shaped at the base ; quite smooth on both surfaces ; the margin closely set 

 with bristly, glandular teeth ; stalk smooth, f to i| ins. long. Flowers white 

 or tinged with rose, I to 2 ins. across, produced in April and May before, or 

 usually with, the young leaves, two to five together on short-stalked corymbs ; 

 each flower is on a stalk f to i^ ins. long, the common stalk being of about 

 the same length ; bracts obovale, fringed. Fruit a small black cherry, ^ in. 

 diameter, with little flesh. 



Considerable doubt exists as to the real native home of this tree, and it is 

 much confused with P. pseudocerasus. The single-flowered type is not 

 certainly known, and in its double form it has for ages been cultivated by 

 the Japanese, by whom its blossoming is made the occasion of a national 

 festival. It is probably a native of N. China. The original specimen described 

 by Lindley in 1830 (Transactions of the Horticultural Society, vol. vii., p. 238), 

 and preserved in the Herbarium of Cambridge University, has no flowers, but 

 after seeing it, I believe there is no doubt that it is the tree with flat spreading 

 branches studded with short stunted spurs, and white flowers about I in. across, 

 commonly grown in gardens as Cerasus serrulata. Of this there is a tree 

 30 ft. across, but only 10 ft. high, at Kew. The following varieties are usually 

 put under P. pseudocerasus in gardens, but there is no character to differentiate 

 them from P. serrulata of Lindley except the colouring and larger size of 

 the flowers. In the Botanical Magazine, t. 8012, and in the Gardeners' Chronicle, 

 May 17, 1890, is figured a form of this cherry which has single flowers, and bears 

 the small black cherry described above. It was originally imported from a 

 Tokyo nursery, and probably no more represents the wild type of this 'cherry 

 than do the common double ones in cultivation. P. pseudocerasus (q.v.) 

 although nearly allied, is always to be recognised in any of its forms by the 

 hairy leaves and flower-stalks. Numerous Japanese forms have been imported 

 in recent times under native or other names, differing from each other too 

 slightly to be differentiated here. They are all beautiful, and along with the 

 four following representative forms may be described as certainly amongst 

 the most lovely of all flowering trees : 



Var. FLORE PLENO. Flowers very double, pale rose, i ^ to 2 ins. across. 



Var. FLORE LUTEO PLENO. Flowers double, i| to 2 ins. across, greenish 

 yellow ; a distinct and rather curious form. 



Var. PENDULA. A form recently introduced, with pendent branches and 

 double pink flowers. "Benifugen" and "Hisakura" are two Japanese names 

 given to forms with flowers sometimes well over 2 ins. across. " Osaka " is 

 another, with white, semi-double flowers produced in mid- May in drooping 

 corymbs, the main stalk of which is 4 to 6 ins. long ; distinct. 



Var. VEITCHIANA. Perhaps the finest of Japanese cherries. Flowers 

 2 ins. across, deep rose-pink. . Leaves bronze-coloured when young. This is 

 a cultivated variety found by the late Mr James H. Veitch in a nursery in 

 Tokyo in 1892. 



All the forms of this cherry are worth cultivating. Their time of flowering 

 extends from mid-April to mid-May. Whilst there is scarcely any position 

 in which their charms are not insistent, it is as lawn trees, either singly or a 

 few together, with some dark evergreen not far behind, that the Japanese 

 cherries are seen at their best. They should be provided with a good loamy 

 soil and a sunny position. 



