390 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



not succumbing under rough usage [Sargent]. Not infested 

 by caterpillars [Fernow]. Bark particularly valuable in medicine 

 [Dr. Porcher]. 



Prunus spinosa, Linne. 



The Sloe or Blackthorn. Wild in many parts of Europe. Indi- 

 genous in Norway to latitude 60 8 ' ; but it will endure the winter 

 even to lat. 67 56" [Schuebeler]. Hardly at all liable to be attacked 

 by insects. With its flowers it is one of the earliest plants to 

 announce the spring. Its tendency to throw out suckers renders 

 the bush less adapted for hedges of gardens than of fields, but these 

 suckers furnish material for walking-sticks, much liked on account 

 of their dark bark. The small globular fruits can be made into 

 preserves. Perhaps the fruit of some of the species from Eastern 

 Asia, California and tropical America maybe improved by horticul- 

 tural skill. The sloe and others might with advantage be naturalised 

 on forest-streams. 



Prunus subcordata, Bentham. 



Wild Plum of California. A shrub with pleasantly acid autumnal 

 fruit, which is reddish and nearly an inch long [Prof. A. Gray]. 



Prunus tomentosa, Thunberg. 



Northern China. A very hardy species with cherry-like edible 

 fruits. 



Prunus Virginiana, Linne. 



The Choke Cherry-tree of the Eastern United States. In a mild 

 clime and fertile soil this tree attains a height of about 100 feet 

 and a stem-circumference of 16 feet. Endures the winters of 

 Norway to lat. 67 56' [Schuebeler] The wood is compact, line- 

 grained, and not liable to warp when perfectly seasoned, of a dull 

 light-red tint, deepening with age. The fruit finally loses its acer- 

 bity. The bark used in medicine. 



Psamma arenaria, Roemer and Schultes.* (P. littoralis, Beauvois ; 

 Calamagrostis arenaria, Koth.) 



The Morram, Marrem or British Bent-grass. Sand-coasts of 

 Europe, North- Africa and Eastern North- America. One of the 

 most important of reedy grasses with long descending roots, to bind 

 moving drift-sands on the sea-shore, for the consolidation of which 

 this tall grass and Elymus arenarius are chiefly employed in Europe. 

 It delights in the worst of drift-sands, and for its full development 

 gradual accumulation of fresh sands around it becomes necessary 

 [Wesley] : hence it never gets suffocated. Easily started from 

 portions of roots for new growth, but also often sown. A wooden 

 palisade should be erected near high-water mark, to promote the 

 formation of an artificial dune; under such shelter the Marrem- 



