VIRGINIAN CHERRY-TREE. 269 
roundish form, purplish-black colour, and edible, but slightly bitter to the taste. 
It arrives at maturity at St. Mary's, in Georgia, by the first of June, but not in 
the northern states and Canada before August or September, when it affords great 
nourishment to several species of birds. 
Varieties. Much confusion has long existed among authors with regard to the 
choke cherry, (Primus virginiana, of Linnaeus,) and the wild cherry (Primus 
serotina, of Ehrhart.) They appear to have been confounded by Michaux and 
others, who mistook the latter for the choke cherry, and consequently described 
it under the name of Cerastes virginiana; but, as we believe that they both 
belong to the same species, this is to us a matter of very little consequence. By 
comparing the two trees in a state of cultivation, it will be difficult to discover 
anything like a specific distinction, or as Mr. Loudon says, even sufficient to 
constitute a race. The serratures, and the tufts of hairs on the under sides of 
the leaves, are, undoubtedly, variable ; and those who are familiar with the 
European bird cherry, (Cerasus padus,) know how little dependence is to be 
placed upon its foliage, when under cultivation; and in truth, it is so nearly 
allied to the species under consideration, that Seringe, in De Candolle's " Pro- 
dromus," seems to doubt if it be really distinct. Admitting the above remarks 
to be correct, the variations of the Cerasus virginiana are as follows : 
1. C. v. precox. Early -fruited Virginian Cherry-tree; Choke Cherry; Pru- 
nas virginiana, of Linnaeus; Cerasus virginiana, of Torrey and Gray; Primus 
serotina, of Pursh ; Cerasus serotina, of Loudon. This variety differs from the 
species in having broadly-oval leaves, abruptly acuminated, being sometimes 
sub-cordate at the base, very sharply, and often doubly serrate, and generally 
hairy in the axils of the veins beneath ; the petals are orbicular ; the fruit sub- 
globose, of a glossy scarlet-red, when ripe, sweet and pleasant, but so very 
astringent, that it dries the mouth and throat like the juice of spruce cones, 
when swallowed. In the northern states and Canada, it usually ripens its fruit 
several weeks earlier than the black cherry-tree ; hence the name jircecox. 
2. C. v. capollin, De Candolle. Capollin Bird Cherry-tree, native of Mexico, 
and known by its lanceolate, serrated, glabrous leaves, resembling in form, and 
nearly in size, those of the Salix fragilis ; and the whole tree appears so much 
like the Cerasus virginiana, that there is but little doubt of its being only a vari- 
ety of this species, but of a larger and more luxuriant growth. 
Geography, Soil, fyc. The Cerasus virginiana is found, in greater or less 
abundance, along the Atlantic parts of America, from Mexico to Hudson's Bay. 
It especially abounds in Upper Canada, and the country west of the Alleghanies, 
and probably is nowhere more profusely multiplied, nor more fully developed, 
than in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. In the southern and maritime parts of 
Georgia, and the Carolinas, where the summers are intensely hot, and where the 
soil is generally dry and sandy, it is but sparingly produced; and on the banks 
of rivers, where the ground is very wet, it is rather limited in its dimensions; but 
in the upper parts of these states, where the climate is more temperate, and the 
soil is more fertile, it becomes more common, though less abundant than in the 
states of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and New York. 
This species appears to have been among the first American trees that were 
introduced into England ; having been cultivated there by Parkinson, in 1029. 
under the name of "Virginian cherry-bay." It is, at present, very common in 
British collections, and is growing in several of the gardens of the continent. 
The largest recorded specimen in England, is at Bagshot Park, in Surrey, which 
is about fifty years old, and forty feet in height. In the botanic garden at Geneva, 
in Switzerland, there is also another tree of this species, of about the same dimen- 
sions. 
