18 HOUGH'S AMERICAN WOODS. 



55. PRUNUS PENNSYLVANIA, L. f. 

 WILD RED CHERRY, PIGEON CHERRY, PIN CHERRY, BIRD CHERRY. 



Ger., Tauben-Kirsche; Fr., Ceresier du pigeon; Sp., Cerezo de puloma. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: Leaves oblong-lanceolate with tapering point, 2-5 inches 

 long, finely and sharply glandular-serrate, thin, shining, green and smooth both 

 sides. Flowers white in corymbose-umbels with long pedicels from lateral buds and 

 appearing with the leaves. Fruit (July-Aug.) a very small subglobose drupe, 

 smooth, light-red with thin sour flesh and smooth globular stone. 



A small, handsome tree rarely more than 40 ft. (12 m.) in height or 

 18 in. (0.46 m.) in diameter of trunk, and often a mere shrub. A strik- 

 ing feature is its smooth, reddish-brown bark, which peals off in thin 

 strips transversely around the tree. The beauty of the tree is enhanced 

 in fruiting season by the small bright-red cherries, which are eagerly 

 eaten by the robins and waxwings. 



HABITAT. Canada and north-eastern United States, as far north as 

 the shores of Hudson's Bay, westward to Iowa and the mountains of 

 Colorado, and southward among the Alleghany Mountains to North Caro- 

 lina. It grows in dry rocky soil, everywhere quickly appearing from 

 seeds scattered by the birds, on tracts recently burned over by forest-fires. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood light, moderately soft, close-grained 

 and of a light-brown color with thin, lighter sap-wood. Specific Gravity, 

 0.5023; Percentage of Ash, 0.40; Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 

 0.5003; Resistance to Longitudinal Pressure, 407; Resistance to Inden- 

 tation, 103; Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 31.30. 



USES. Too small a tree to be of commercial value, and the wood is 

 little used. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES. In domestic practice the bark of this tree, 

 which is very bitter, is used (like that of the Black Cherry) as a tonic, in 

 the form of an infusion with cider. 



56. PRUNUS AVIUM, L. 



OX-HEART CHERRY, ENGLISH CHERRY. 



Ger., Susser Kirschbaum ; Fr., Merisier ; Sp., Cerezo. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. Leaves obovate-oblong, 3-6 in. in length, acuminate, ser- 

 rate, with hairy under surface; petioles 1-2 in. long and usually furnished with a 

 pair of glands near the leaf-blade. Flowers appearing with the leaves, white, in la- 

 teral, sessile umbels with rather long pedicels. Fruit a smooth, globular drupe, 

 subcordate at base, red of various shades, firm, juicy and of vinous flavor ; stone 

 smooth and globular. 



(Amum is a Latin word, meaning: of the birds, and applicable to this species on ac- 

 count of the fondness of certain birds for its fruit.) 



