746 



PRUNUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



PR UN U.S. 



fruits, and there are variegated forms cultivated 

 in Europe. 



P. ARMENIACA (common Apricot). The 

 wild bush of the cultivated Apricot flowers in 

 February or early March, its blossoms being 

 usually of a pinkish-white, but there are 

 varieties with deeper-coloured flowers, and one 

 in which they are double. N. China. 



P. AVIUM (the Gean). Wild in the British 

 Isles and is generally a tree 20 feet to 30 feet 

 high, this has long been grown as an orna- 

 mental tree, and there are three or four good 

 varieties. None is more beautiful than the 

 double form, whose pure white flowers are 

 borne in spring. The var. decumana is a 

 striking tree with large leaves, some of which 



Cerasus Watereri. 



measure 6 inches to 8 inches in length. The 

 var. nana is a curious dwarf plant ; var. 

 laciniata has cut leaves ; and var. pendula is 

 of weeping habit. The fruit is sweet or bitter 

 (not acid). 



P. CAPOLLIN. A native of Mexico and 

 southwards, where it ranks as a fruit tree ; 

 leaves are of a dark glossy green, and hanging 

 loose and pendent, as in some Willows ; flowers 

 in erect racemes, white ; fruits round, dark 

 red and like small Cherries ; a tree 30 feet to 

 35 feet high. In France it ripens seed. 



P. CERASIFERA (the Myrobalan). The 

 showiest of all the Plums, flowering whilst the 

 leaf-buds are as yet mere tips of green, the 

 flowers three-quarters of an inch to I inch in 



diameter, in clusters on the short twigs ; tree 

 round-headed and of spreading habit, 20 feet 

 high. Prunus Pissardi is a variety of this 

 species (var. atro-purpurea, the purple Myro- 

 balan), a variety of Persian origin. Its white 

 blossoms are followed by the beautiful red- 

 purple young leaves, which assume their richest 

 tints when just opening and in late summer 

 and autumn. It fruits in favourable seasons, 

 the fruits being coloured like the leaves, even 

 when young. 



P. CERASUS (the wild Cherry). A native of 

 Britain, and usually a small tree or even a 

 shrub, bearing its pure white flowers in spring. 

 It is the double-flowered varieties, however, 

 that give the species its chief value in gardens. 

 A very old and beautiful Cherry is the variety 

 known as persiciflora, the flowers of which are 

 double and tinged with rose. One of more 

 recent origin is Rhexi fl.-pl., whose pure white, 

 long-stalked flowers, borne in May, hang from 

 the branches in great abundance. It is a small 

 tree, and one of the prettiest of all the Cherries. 

 Syn. Cerasus vulgaris. 



P. CHAM^CERASUS (Siberian Cherry). A 

 dwarf cherry, the blossoms white, three- 

 quarters of an inch in diameter, appearing in 

 May. One form of this species is represented 

 by a tree 10 feet or more high at Kew, but, as 

 a rule, it is only half as high. It is naturally 

 a small rounded shrub of neat, close habit, but 

 is mostly grown as a standard. There is a 

 drooping variety (pendula) and another with 

 variegated foliage. 



P. COMMUNIS (common Plum). This 

 species is believed to be the source from which 

 the cultivated Plums have been derived, al- 

 though in a less degree the Bullace (P. 

 insititia) and the Sloe (P. Spinosa) have each 

 most probably a share in their origin. It has, 

 however, some value as an ornamental tree, 

 and reaches a height of 1 5 feet to 20 feet, the 

 flowers white. Of the varieties cultivated as 

 ornamental trees, var. pruneauliana is perhaps 

 the most beautiful. It bears in April many 

 white flowers, not large but so thickly borne 

 as to cover the twigs. There is also a double- 

 flowered form of this variety. 



P. CORNUTA (Himalayan Bird Cherry). 

 This is the Himalayan form of our Bird Cherry. 

 Its leaves are as a rule larger, broader, and 

 of stouter texture than those of our British 

 trees ; they are also distinct in having red 

 stalks. 



P. DAVIDIANA. This is the earliest of all 

 the Peaches to bloom, in mild winters as early 

 as January. Its branches are of somewhat erect 

 growth, the flowers individually I inch across 

 and completely covering the shoots made the 

 preceding year, which are frequently 2 feet 

 along. The petals in one form (alba) are of a 

 pure white ; in the other (rubra) pink, but not 

 so freely borne. 



P. INSITITIA (the Bullace). A small tree, 

 often wild in hedgerows, which bears its white 

 flowers in pairs during March and April ; its 

 black fruits are ripe in October. There are 

 several varieties, amongst which may be 



