XXVI. ROSA CEJE ! PYllUS. 



447 



and rooting at the joints. The fruit is intermediate 

 in colour between P. arbutifolia and P. melano- 

 carpa, being of a reddish black. 



A very desirable shrub, frequent in collections, and known 

 in the nurseries under the name of .Mespilus arbutifolia. It 

 is prolific in flowers, which are produced in May, and which 

 are followed by dark red or purple fruit, which, when not 

 eaten by birds, will remain on the bushes till the following 

 April or May, when the plant is again in flower. This species, 

 whether as a bush, or grafted standard high on the common 

 thorn, is highly ornamental in spring, when it is covered with 799i p. a . 

 its profusion of white flowers ; in autumn, when its foliage 

 assumes a deep red or purple ; and in winter, after the leaves have dropped, 

 when it is still enriched with its persistent fruit. It is propagated by layers, 

 suckers, or seeds ; but most frequently by suckers. There v/as, in 1835, 

 a remarkably fine plant of this species, grafted standard high, in Knight's 

 Exotic Nurs'ery : it had attained the height of 10 or 12 feet ; its branches hung 

 down gracefully to the ground, not in one mass, but in varied tufts ; and 

 their appearance in autumn, when they were of an intensely purple red, was 

 beyond expression interesting and beautiful. 



37. P. 



MELANOCARPA 



The black -fruited Aronia. 



Identification. Willd. Enum., 525. ; Ph. Sept., 1. p. 339. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 637. ; Don's Mill., 2. 



p. 649 

 Synomjmes. P. arbutifblia /3 Willd. Sp. 2. p. 1013. ; ^rbnia arbutifblia Pers. Syn. 2. p. 39. ; Mes- 



pilus capitata Lodd. \ M. floribunda Lodd. ; M. ptibens Lodd. Cat. 1836. 

 Engravings. Schmidt Arb., t. 86. ; Krause, t. 79. ; and our fig. 800. 



Spec. Char., $c. Leaves obovate-oblong, acuminate, 

 serrated, glabrous beneath ; the midrib glandulous 

 above. Corymb more crowded than in P. arbutifolia. 

 Calyx glabrous. Pome black. (Dec. Prod.} A de- 

 ciduous shrub. North America, in Canada, in bogs, 

 and on the high mountains of Carolina and Virginia ; 

 and judging from the plants in the Horticultural 

 Society's Garden, and in the arboretum of Messrs. 

 Loddiges, nothing more than a variety of P. ffrbuti- 

 folia. Height 4ft. to 5ft. Cultivated in 1700. 

 Flowers white ; May. Fruit large, black, resembling 

 in taste those of Faccinium pennsylvanicum ; ripe in 

 September. 



Variety. 



& P. (a.) m. 2 subpubescens Lindl. (Hort. Trans., 

 vii. p. 232. ; Don's Mill., ii. p. 649.), P. m. 

 xanthocarpa Hort., has the leaves, when 

 young, tomentose beneath, but glabrous in the adult state. 



P. (a.) melanocarpa or its variety, grafted standard high on the common 

 hawthorn, forms a truly interesting pendulous, and at the same time pictu- 

 resque, tree ; and we can scarcely sufficiently recommend it for small shrub- 

 beries and suburban gardens. As its berries are not so greedily eaten by birds 

 as those of most of the other -Rosaceae, in mild winters they remain on till the 

 following summer, and mix beautifully with the flowers in June. It grafts 

 readily on the common hawthorn ; and it, and all the other species and varieties 

 belonging to the section Adenorachis, might be introduced into our common 

 hedges by any countryman who could graft, thus rendering them truly orna- 

 mental. 



jok 38. P. (A.) FLORIBU'NDA Lindl. The abundant-flowered Aronia. 



Identification. Lindl. Hort. Trans., 7. p. 230. ; Lindl. Bot. Reg., 1006. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 6-19. 

 Engravings. Lindl. Bot. Reg., t. 1006. ; and our fig. 801. 



P. (a.) inclanocnrpa. 



