Cerasus sylvestris, 
THE WILD CHERRY-TREE, OR GEAN. 
Synonymes. 
Prunus avium, 
Cerasus avium, 
Cerasus sylvestris, 
Merisier, Merise grosse noire, Guignier 
Bigarreautier, Heaumier, 
Sfisser Kirschbaum, 
Ciregiolo, Ciriegiolo, 
Gean, Bigarreau, Corone, Coroon, Small' 
Black Cherry-tree, Black Hertfordshire 
Cherry-tree, Black Heart Cherry-tree, 
Black Mazzard Cherry-tree, 
Merry-tree, 
Merries, (the fruit,) 
Linn-eus, Species Plantarum. 
De Candolle, Prodromus. 
Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 
France. 
Germany. 
Italy. 
-Britain. 
Peasants of Cheshire 
Norfolk (Eng.) 
(Eng.) 
Derivations. According to Mr. Loudon, this cherry is called Corone, (a crow,) in some parts of England, in reference to its 
blackness. Mirisier is said to be derived from the words amire, bitter, and cerise, a cherry ; and Merry-tree and Merries, are 
evidently corruptions from it. Bigarreau is derived from bigarrie, party-coloured, because the cherries known by this name 
are generally of two colours, yellow and red ; and Heaumier is from the French word heaume, a helmet, from the shape of the 
fruit. 
Engravings. Selby, British Forest Trees, pp. 58, 61, 63, 64 ; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, vi., pi. 113; and the figures 
below. 
Specific Characters. Branches vigorous and divaricate; the buds from which the fruits are produced, 
oblong-acute. Flowers in umbel-like groups, sessile, not numerous. Leaves oval-lanceolate, pointed, 
serrated, somewhat pendent, slightly pubescent on the under side, and furnished with two glands at 
the base. De Candolle, Prodromus. 
Description. 
HE Cerasus sylves- 
tris, in favourable 
situations, often ac- 
quires a height of 
sixty or seventy feet, in fifty or sixty 
years, with a trunk of proportionate size, 
and sufficiently large for the general pur- 
poses of construction. In the progress of 
its growth to maturity, the form of its 
head is pyramidal, the branches springing 
from the main stem, at regular intervals, 
or at the commencement of the annual 
shoot ; and as its spray is stiff, strong, and open in its character, it firmly resists 
the fury of the winds. Its foliage, though handsome and pleasing to the eye, is 
considered too uniform and unbroken to produce picturesque effect; yet "in 
autumn, when it assumes a deep purplish-red colour, it gives great richness to 
the landscape, and contrasts well," as Selby expresses it, "with the yellows and 
browns which predominate at that season." Its flowers, which are produced in 
profusion in April or May, from their snowy whiteness, blend well with those of 
the almond and the scarlet thorn. The fruit, well known in Britain by the name 
of gean, is usually of a very deep, dark-red, or black, when ripe, but sometimes 
it is of a bright-red ; its pulp and juice is small in quantity, usually of the colour 
of the fruit, austere and bitter before it comes to maturity, and insipid or sweet, 
