Cerasus virginiana, 
THE VIRGINIAN CHERRY-TREE. 
Synonyrnes. 
Primus serotina, 
Cerasus virginiana, 
Cerasus serotina, 
Cerisier de Virginie, 
Virginischer Kirschbaum, 
Ciliegio di Virginia, 
Virginian Bird Cherry-tree, 
Wild Cherry-tree, Black Cherry-tree, 
Ehrhart, Beitrage zur Naturkund. 
Michaux, North American Sylva. 
Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 
Torrey and Gray, Flora of North America. 
De Candolle, Prodromus. 
France. 
Germany. 
Italy. 
Britain. 
Anglo-America. 
Engravings. Mbhaux, North American Sylva, pi. 83; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, ii., fig. 418 etvi.pl. 114, anu 
the figures below 
Specific Characters. Leaves (rather coriaceous) oval, oblong, or lanceolate-oblong, acuminate, glabrous, 
or bearded along the midrib beneath, smooth and shining above, finely serrate, with appressed or 
incurved callous teeth; petioles, (or base of the leaf,) mostly with two or more glands; racemes elon- 
gated, spreading; petals broadly obovate ; drupes globose, purplish-black Torrey and Gray, tlora. 
Description. 
Cerasus virgin- 
where the soil 
7^dHE 
Sl c rp8 ian . 
W\ U j an( i climate are the 
ife^Kll niost congenial to its 
growth, sometimes attains a height of eighty 
or one hundred feet, with a trunk three or four 
feet in diameter ; but it varies much in size, 
according to the circumstances under which 
it grows. In England and the North Ameri- 
can British provinces, it seldom exceeds thirty 
or forty feet in height, with a trunk ten or 
twelve inches in diameter ; and in the neigh- 
bourhood of the Great Slave Lake, in latitude 
62 N., it grows only to a height of about five 
feet. The general surface of the bark is 
smooth ; but it is blackish and rough, detach- 
ing itself in narrow semi-circular, hard, thick 
plates, which adhere for a time to the tree, 
previous to dropping off. The trunk is usu- 
ally straight for about one fourth of its height, where it ramifies into a spreading 
summit of a handsome outline ; but its foliage is too thin to display that massy 
richness which gives so much beauty to the maples and many other trees. The 
leaves are usually from two to four inches long, toothed, very much pointed, and 
of a beautiful, smooth, shining green, with two or more small reddish glands 
at the base. The flowers are white, and occur in spikes, which, when fully 
expanded, have a beautiful effect. They put forth in Florida and the state of 
Georgia in the month of February, but in some parts of Canada, not before the 
early part of June. The fruit is about one-fourth of an inch in diameter, of a 
