276 



ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BR1TANNICUM. 



(Dec. Prod,) A middle-sized shrub. North America, in sandy soils, on the 

 sea coast, from New Jersey to Carolina. Height 6 ft. to 8 ft. Introduced 

 in 1818. Flowers white; April and May. Fruit, of the size of a pigeon's 

 egg, dark purple, and, according to Pursh, very good to eat ; ripe ?. 



There are plants in British gardens, but they have never yet set fruit. 

 .* 8. P. PUBE'SCENS Pair. The pubescent-leaved Plum Tree. 



Identification. Poir. Suppl., 4. p. 584., not of Pursh ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 533. ; Don's Mill., 2. p.i99. 

 Engraving, Our^g.2084 in p. 1106. 



Spec. Char., $c. Leaves with short pubescent petioles, and disks that are 

 slightlypubescent, ovate, thickish, rounded, or shortly acuminate and un- 

 equally toothed. Flowers mostly solitary and nearly sessile. Fruit oval. 

 (Dec. Prod.) A shrub. Native country unknown. Cultivated in 1818. 

 Height 2 ft. to 3 ft. Flowers white ; May. 



j* 9. P. DIVARICA V TA Led. The divaricated-branched Plum Tree. 



Identification. Ledeb. Ind. Hort. Dorp. Suppl. 1824, p 6. ; Fl. Alt., 



t. 13. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 534. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 504. 

 Engravings. Led. Flor. Alt., 1. 13. ; and our fig. 446. 



Spec. Char., $c. Branches spineless. Leaves with 

 glandless petioles, and disks oblong-elliptical, ta- 

 pered to both ends, concave above, serrate, gla- 

 brous, with the midrib bearded beneath. Flowers 

 solitary, very numerous. Calyx rerlexed. Fruit 

 elliptical, yellow. (Dec. Prod.) A middle-sized 

 shrub. Caucasus. Height 8 ft. to 10 ft. Intro- 

 duced in 1820. Flowers white ; April. 



Other Species of Prunus Juss. In consequence of many species of the 

 genus Prunus being removed to Cerasus ; and also because of the close re- 

 semblance of one species to another in both genera, there is a good deal of 

 confusion, which cannot be cleared up till the plants are studied in a living 

 state. Prunus effusa was raised in 1838, in the Hort. Soc. Garden, from seeds 

 presented by Baron Jacquin. 



GENUS V. 



446. Primus divarichta. 



CE'RASUS Juss. THE CHERRY. Lin. 



Dec. Fl. Fr. 4. p. 479. ; Prod., 2. p. 535 ; Don's Mill.. 

 Laurocerasus Tourn. ; Prunus sp. Lin. ; Cerisier, Fr. ; Kirsche, Ger. ; Ciiiegio, Ital. 



Syst. Icosandria Monogynia. 



, 2. p. 504. 



Identification. Juss. Gen., 340. 

 Synonymes. Laurocerasus Tot 



Derivation. From Cerasus, the ancient name of a town of Pontus in Asia, whence the cultivated 

 cherry was first brought to Rome, by Lucullus, a Roman General, 68 B.C. 



Gen. Char. Drupe globose, or umbilicate at the base, fleshy, quite glabrous, 

 destitute of bloom, containing a smooth, rather globose compressed stone. 

 (Don's Mill.) 



Leaves simple, alternate, stipulate, deciduous, or evergreen ; when young, 

 conduplicate. Flowers white. Pedicels 1-flowered, rising before the leaves, in 

 fascicled umbels, from scaly buds; but sometimes rising after the evolution of 

 the leaves, in racemes, from the tops of the branches. Trees and shrubs, almost 

 all deciduous, with smooth serrated leaves, and white flowers ; and, generally, 

 with light-coloured bark. Natives of Europe, Asia, and North America. 



Some of them are cultivated for their fruit, and the others as ornamental. 

 In British nurseries, the deciduous species are generally propagated by graft- 

 ing or budding on the Cerasus sylvestris, and the evergreens are propagated 



