268 SELECT PLANTS FOR INDUSTRIAL CULTURE 



Primus Caroliniana, Alton. 



Southern States of North America. Porcher regards it as one of 

 the most beautiful and manageable evergreens of those States. It 

 can be cut into any shape and is much employed for quick and 

 dense hedges. It can be grown on coast land. 



Prunus Chisasa, Michaux. 



North America, west of the Mississippi. On the prairies it is only 

 3 to 4 feet high. Fruit spherical, red, rather small, with a tender 

 usually agreeable pulp. Other species with edible fruit, occur in 

 North America, such as P. pumila (L.), P. Pennsylvania (L.), P. 

 Yirginiana (L.), but their fruits are too small to render these plants 

 of importance for orchard culture, though they may also become 

 enlarged by artificial treatment. 



Prunus ilicifolia, Nuttall. 



California. In deep rich soil, valuable for evergreen hedges of in- 

 tricate growth. Fruit about ^ inch diameter, red or black, of a 

 pleasant sub-acid flavour, but somewhat astringent (Gibbons). 



Prunus Mahaleb, Linne. 



Middle and South Europe. It deserves some attention on 

 account of its scented seeds and also odorous wood, the latter used 

 in turnery for pipes and other articles. The flowers are in use for 

 perfumes. 



Prunus maritima, Wangenheim. 



The Beech-Plum of North America. A shrubby species, of service 

 not only for covering coast-sands, but also for its fruit, which is 

 crimson or purple, globular, and measuring from J to 1 inch. It is 

 not necessary to enter here any notes on the generally-known 

 species of Prunus, which have engaged already for years the keen 

 attention of many orchard cultivators. Thus we possess numerous 

 varieties of the Cherry, P. avium (L.) and P. Cerasus (L.) ; of the 

 Plum, P. domestica (L.) ; of the Apricot, P. Armeniaca (L.) ; and 

 of the Cherry-plum, P. myrobalana (L.) the latter Canadian, the 

 others European and Oriental. Information on these and other 

 varieties may be sought in " Hogg's Fruit Manual." The Almond 

 (Amygdalus communis, L.) and the Peach (Amygdalus Persica, L.) 

 belong also generically to Prunus, as indicated in 1812 by Stokes 

 ("Bot. Mat. MedL," iii. 101) and in 1813 by F. G. Hayne 

 (" Arznei-Gewachse," iv. 38), and finally settled by J. L>. Hooker 

 (Benth. and Hook., gen. pi. i. 610), for which therefore now the 

 names P. Amygdalus and P. Persica should be adopted. The 

 latter came originally from China, while P. Armenica seems indig- 

 enous to the Caucasian regions and perhaps the Himalayas, and 



