626 



ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



Spec. Char., $c. Leaves oblong, acuminate, downy beneath ; leaf buds hairy 

 inside. Flowers small, reddish white. Fruit size of a cherry, yellow when 

 ripe, sweet with astringency: it is recommended as a cure for diarrhoea. 

 (Don's Mill.) A low tree. Caucasus, the woods of Hyrcania, and the 

 whole coast of the Caspian Sea, and Mauritania. Height 20 ft. to 30 ft., 

 and sometimes much higher. Introduced in 1596. Flowers reddish, or 

 yellowish white ; July. Fruit yellow ; ripe in October. 

 The leaves are of a beautiful dark glossy green above, and, when mature, 

 and exposed to the air, assume a purplish hue beneath : they do not change 

 colour in autumn, but drop off simultaneously with the first attack of sharp 

 frost. Ripening its fruit freely in the South of France and Italy, seeds have 

 been readily procured ; and the plant has never be'en rare in British collec- 

 tions ; but, as it is somewhat tender, there are few la ge specimens of it. It 

 grows at the rate of 12 or 18 inches a year, for the first ten years, especially if 

 the soil in which it is planted is free and loamy, and rich rather than poor. 



2. D. VIRGINIA N NA L. The Virginian Date Plum, or Persimon. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 1510. ; Don's Mill., 4. p. 39. 



Synonyme. Guaiac&na Catesb. Car. 2. t. 76. 



Engravings. Dendr. Brit., t. 146. ; the plates in Arb. Brit., 1st edit. ; and omjig. 1215. 



D. virgin&na. 



Leaves ovate-oblong, acuminated, glabrous, shining above, 



