*6 TREES GROWING NEAR WATER. 



apex and pointed or rounded base ; thin ; netted-veined ; sharply and doubly or 

 singly serrate ; pubescent beneath in the angles of ribs and becoming smooth 

 at maturity. Flowers : white ; growing in umbel-like clusters from separate 

 lateral buds and usually preceding the leaves. Fruit : a dull orange or crim- 

 son drupe; round and containing a flattened stone with sharply winged edges ; 

 glabrous ; edible with a pleasant flavour. The skin acrid and tough. 



As the specific name of this tree im- 

 plies it is a native of America. In its 

 wild state it grows along the borders of 

 streams and sometimes seeks the shelter 

 of a light strip of woodland. Occasion- 

 ally it is planted ; but it is much better to 

 use it as a stock upon which to graft some 

 one of the domestic species of plums. For 

 this purpose its hardiness and other good 

 qualities make it suitable and many excellent 

 results have thus been obtained. The chief 

 charm of the tree is the colour of its ripe fruit. There is an 

 almost transparent brightness about it which in effect is most 

 artistic. At the season of its ripening housewives were for- 

 merly very much on the alert when they sought the fruit and 

 made it into preserves. 



CHOKE CHERRY. (Plate CXLVI) 

 Primus Virginiana. 



FAMILY SHAPE HEIGHT RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Plum. Bushy y spreading. 2-i$feet. New England southward April, May. 



to Georgia and westward Fruit: July, A ug. 

 to Colorado. 



Bark: dark grey. Leaves: simple; alternate; oval; pointed; finely and 

 sharply serrate ; thin. Flowers: white; growing compactly in a short, close 

 raceme. Calyx : tubular; bell-shaped ; flve-lobed. Corolla : with five very small 

 petals. Stamens : numerous. Pistil : one. Fruit : A bright red cherry which 

 turns later to dark crimson. The stone and kernel are flavoured with and 

 contain prussic acid. 



By the side of the streams and rivers and often along road- 

 sides and thickets from April until late in August the attention 

 of the passer by is caught by either the bloom or the fruit of the 

 choke-cherry. It is always a shrub, and has a sprightly, re- 

 freshing aspect. Little birds are seen alighting, for a moment, 



