270 TREES GROWING IN DRY SOIL. 



the Indians to manipulate them into a sort of cake which they 

 greatly relish and find wholesome. After the berries are 

 crushed, they place them in the sunshine where they harden 

 into a paste. This they prudently put by for use during the 

 winter months. Along the Atlantic coast and through the 

 Gulf states Amelanchier Botrgapium y the shad-bush, a related 

 species, with broader, shorter petals, is only known as a shrub. 

 The wood of Amelanchier Canadensis is fine and capable of re- 

 ceiving a high polish. 



A. alnifolia, northwestern June-berry, occurs throughout the 

 northwest as a shrub from three to eight feet high, or as a tree 

 as tall as forty feet. Formerly it was regarded as a variety of 

 the preceding species. Its shorter petals and more rounded 

 fruit are marks by which it may be known. There are, in fact, 

 several wild species of the genus whose differences are not 

 very great. As a genus they are readily known. 



PEACH. {Plate CXL VII.) 

 Amfgdalus Pirsica. 



FAMILY SHAPE HEIGHT RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Plum. Scraggly. About \o feet. New York to North Afril, May. 



Carolina. 



Bark ; purplish brown; smooth ; bitter. Leaves ; simple ; alternate ; grow- 

 ing in clusters along the stem and terminating the branches ; lanceolate ; finely 

 serrate; bright green above and glabrous; thick; bitter and containing 

 prussic acid. Flowers ; purplish pink; growing singly from scaly buds along 

 the branches and appearing before the leaves ; almost sessile. Calyx : tubu- 

 lar ; bell-shaped, with five spreading lobes. Corolla ; of five petals. Stamens : 

 numerous on the throat of the calyx. Pistil : one. Fruit ; globular ; velvety 

 and containing a deeply-wrinkled stone ; the kernel flavoured with prussic acid. 



Although in a truly wild state this lovely 

 flowering tree is unknown, it sometimes strays 

 from the gardens to the waysides. Here 

 amid the medley of tender greens that stand 

 out from a background of brown and purple 

 and are tipped with golden, the brilliant 

 masses of blossoms give a life and inspi- 

 ration to the landscape that is typical of the 



A mjgdalus Pe'rsica. 



