TREES AND SHRUBS 



straight; Bark brown: Twigs pubescent, red, green, passing to grey; Buds 

 long conoid, scales ciliate. 



A questionable native of Britain ; probably in many instances an escape 

 from cultivation. 



Name from Middle English bolas ; Old French beloce, a bullace. 



•• Witch Knots " sometimes caused by presence of Eocoascus insititice. 

 " Bladder plums" produced by the same fungus. 



BLACKTHORN or SLOE, Prunus spinosa. 



Woods, thickets, hedges. Gilbert White remarks that "this tree usually 

 blossoms while cold north-east winds blow, so that the harsh, rugged weather 

 obtaining at this season is called by the country people blackthorn winter." 

 In places where the Blackthorn grows abundantly, as in the impenetrable 

 undergrowths of Epping Forest, its effect is singularly striking, large tracts 

 appearing as if a snowstorm had passed over, loading the branches with a 

 white mantle. March, April. 



Floioers white, appearing before or with the leaves, protogynous, -|-f in. 

 diam., single or two together, on short glabrous peduncles ; Calyx 5-lobed, 

 inferior, glabrous, deciduous; Petals 5, obovate ; Stamens 15-20, perigynous ; 

 Ovary of 1 carpel, superior, 1 terminal style ; Fruit a globose, fleshy 

 drupe, erect, with a hard, smooth, or rugged stone ; nearly black, with 

 bluish bloom, \ in. diam., very astringent. 



Leaves alternate, variable, ovate or oblong, petiolate, finely serrated, 

 usually glabrous, acute or obtuse, 1 J-2^ ins. x £-lf in. Autumn tints yellow to 

 reddish. 



A deciduous shrub, 10-15 ft.; much branched; Branches irregular, spinous, 

 very tough ; Bark black ; Twigs red-brown passing to black, rigid, much 

 branched ; Buds minute, scales nearly glabrous, brown-red ; Stems used 

 as walking-sticks. 



Indigenous in Britain. Some authorities consider this to be the parent 



of the Damson. 



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