84 Rose ( Rosacece) 



Fig. 30. Sloe. Black Thorn. [P. spinbsa. L.] 



Flowers, white, usually solitary. Flower-stems, smooth. 



Leaves, edge sharply-toothed or double-toothed, reverse 

 egg-shape to egg-shape, downy beneath, becoming 

 smooth. 



Fruit, small, rounded, black. Stone, swollen, with one 

 edge sharp. 



Found, in waste places from New England to Pennsyl- 

 vania, and New Jersey. Introduced from Europe. 



A thorny shrub, twelve to fifteen feet high. 



Fig. 31. Choke-Cherry. P. Virginiana, L. 



Flowers, white, with short stems, set in a long, cylinder- 

 shaped cluster at the ends of leafy branchlets, appear- 

 ing after the leaves. Petals, rounded. May. 



Leaves, two to three inches long, oval to reverse egg- 

 shape, thin, base variable, edge finely and sharply 

 toothed. Leaf-stem, usually marked with two to four 

 wart-like dots. Bark, light gray or greenish on the 

 young shoots, becoming dark gray after the first 

 year, 



Fruit, about one quarter inch in diameter, very abundant, 

 red, becoming very dark in ripening, exceedingly 

 astringent (puckery), but when thoroughly ripe not 

 unpalatable. Stone, rounded, smooth, without mar- 

 gin. July, August. 



Found, widely distributed in woods and hedges from 

 Georgia westward and northward. Common, es- 

 pecially northward. 



A shrub (or sometimes a small tree) five to twenty 

 feet high. 



