XXVI. ROSA CEJE. 259 



S))pc. Char., 4'c. Leaves acuminate, villose beneath at the axils of the veins. 

 As compared with C. 5iliquastrum, its flowers are of a paler rose colour, 

 the legume is on a longer pedicel, and tipped with a longer stvle. A low 

 tree. Canada to Virginia. (Z)cc. Prorf.) Height 10 ft. to 20 ft. Introd. 17.30. 

 Flowers red ; May and June. ; Legume brown ; ripe in August. 



Varieft/. 



f C. c. pubescens Ph. Leaves pubescent on the under surface. (Dec.) 



This tree bears a general resemblance to the preceding species ; but it is 

 more slender and smaller in all its parts ; and it seldom rises higher than 20 

 feet. It is at once distinguished from C. ^*>iliquastrum by its leaves being 

 heart-shaped and pointed ; they are also much thinner, more veined, and of a 

 lighter green ; and the flowers are generally produced in smaller numbers 

 than in the other species. The flowers are used by the French Canadians in 

 salads and pickles, and the young branches to dye wool of a nankeen colour. 

 The wood resembles that of the other species. Propagated by imported 

 seeds, and considered more tender than C. 5iliquastrum. 



Order XXVI. i^OSA^CE^E. 



The term iJosaceae has been applied to this order, because all the species 

 belonging to it agree more or less with the genus Rosa, in essential charac- 

 1 ters. It includes many genera belonging to the Linnaean class Icosandria. 



Ord. Char. Flowers regular. Calyx, in most cases, with 5 lobes, the odd one 

 posterior to the axis of inflorescence. Petals and stamens arising from the 

 calyx. Stamens, for the most part, numerous. Ovaries many, several, or 

 solitary ; each of one cell that includes, in most cases, 1 ovule ; in some, 

 1 to many ovules. Sli/Ie lateral or terminal. 



Leaves simple, or pinnately divided, alternate, in nearly all stipulate. 

 Flowers showy, with numerous stamens. Fruit, in many of the genera, edible. 

 Trees and shrubs, mostly deciduous; natives of Europe, Asia, and America. 



The ligneous species which constitute this order include the finest flower- 

 ing shrub in the world, the rose; and the trees which produce the most 

 useful and agreeable fruits of temperate climates, viz. the apple, the pear, the 

 plum, the cherry, the apricot, the peach, and the nectarine. The plants are, 

 for the most part, deciduous low trees or shrubs, all producing flowers more 

 or less showy ; and the greater number fruits which are edible. They are 

 chiefly natives of Europe and Asia ; but several of them are also found in 

 North America, and some in South America, and the North of Africa. The 

 fruit-bearing species, and the rose, have followed man from the earliest period 

 of civilisation, and are, perliaps, better known to mankind in general than any 

 other ligneous plants. The medical properties of several of the species are 

 remarkable, from the circumstance of their yielding the prussic acid ; while 

 'Others produce a gum nearly allied to the gum Arabic, which indicates a 

 degree of affinity between this order and Leguminaceac. The bark of some 

 .species, as of Cerasus virginiana, is used, in North America, as a febrifuge ; 

 '^and that of others, as the capollin cherry (Cerasus Capol/in), for tannmg, 

 pn Mexico. The leaves *of Cratgegus Oxvacantha, Prunus spinosa, Cerasus 

 pyhestris, and Rosa, rubininosa, have been used as a substitute for tea, or for 

 idulterating tea. The leaves and bark of the spiraeas are said te be at once 

 astringent and emetic. There are two characteristics of this order, with 

 reference to its cultivation, which are of great importance to the gardener : 

 tie first is, the liability of almost all the species to sport, and produce 

 varieties differing, in many cases, more from one another, than they differ 

 rem other species ; and the second is, that they are remarkably subject to 



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