Wild Orange 509 



beneath, most abundant along the broad midrib and the slender lateral veins; 

 the stout leaf-stalk is about 8 mm. long, rusty-hairy and glandular near the blade. 

 The flowers are on short pedicels in slender, spreading racemes 7 to 10 cm. long, 

 which are densely hairy. The fruit ripens in July, is globose, about 8 mm. in 

 diameter, dark purple, with the persistent calyx and stamens at its base. 



The wood of the Southern wild cherry is probably very similar to that of the 

 common wild cherry. 



V. THE EVERGREEN CHERRIES 



GENUS LAUROCERASUS [TOURNEFORT] REICHENBACH 



BOUT 20 species of Evergreen cherries are known, all natives of warm- 

 temperate and tropical regions in both the Old World and the New. 

 Besides the four here described as occurring within the United States, 

 two others grow in the West Indies and in Mexico and Central America. 

 The so-called English laurel (Laurocerasus Laurocerasus), the type of the genus, 

 is widely cultivated for ornament in England and France, but is a native of south- 

 eastern Europe. 



The leaves are alternate, persistent on the trees into their second season, thick, 

 shining, toothed or entire, the rather large stipules falHng away early. The flowers 

 are borne in racemes in the axils of leaves of the previous season, opening in some 

 kinds late in the year, in others in the spring. The calyx has 5 small lobes, and 

 there are 5 petals and 15 to 30 stamens with very slender filaments. The ovary 

 is stalkless, containing 2 ovules, and ripens into a small stone-fruit (drupe), its 

 pit containing one seed, the flesh nearly dry and scarcely edible. The foUage 

 develops much prussic acid, when macerated in water. 

 Our species may be distinguished as follows: 



Drupe oblong to oval; petals smaller than the calyx -lobes; southeastern tree. i. L. caroliniana. 

 Drupe globose to subglobose; petals longer than the pointed calyx-lobes. 



Calyx-lobes laciniate; southeastern tree. 2. L. myrtijolia 

 Calyx-lobes entire; Pacific coast trees. 



Leaves spinulose-toothed. 3- L. ilicijolia. 



Leaves entire-margined. 4- L. Lyoni. 



I. WILD ORANGE Laurocerasus caroliniana (Miller) Roemer 



Padus caroliniana Miller. Primus caroliniana Aiton 



This beautiful evergreen tree, also called Mock orange, inhabits rich soil, 

 preferring river valleys, from North Carolina to Florida, Mississippi, and Texas. 

 It also occurs in Bermuda. It attains a ma.ximum height of about 12 meters, 

 with a trunk about 3 dm. thick. 



The thin bark is gray and smooth, or somewhat ridged, the young twigs smooth, 

 green, turning red to red-brown, the pointed buds 3 or 4 mm. long. The leaves 



