ROSACEA. 445 



There is no natural order wliicli contains a larger number of plants 

 useful for their fruits, whether for the pericarp or seed ; we need only 

 call attention generally to the fact that to RosacecB belong the nume- 

 rous species and varieties of Pears,' Apples, Quinces, Medlars, Service- 

 fruit {Sorbes, Cormes), Plums, Almonds, Cherries, Apricots, Peaches, 

 Nectarines, Strawberries, and Easpberries, cultivated in our gardens, 

 and served daily on our tables. The edible flesh of Apples or Pears, 

 formed to a great extent by the hypertrophy of the receptacular sac, 

 is more or less austere and rich in tannin, or sweet and gorged with 

 saccharine matter. This last can be extracted from the fruit, 

 its fermentation yields alcoholic drinks, like cider and perry. The 

 ripe fruits of several species of Cratagiis, such as C. Aria,^ Jzarolus, 

 latifolia, torminalis, &c., have a pretty sweet or subacid flesh, and may 

 be eaten ; but the Service-berries and Medlars are on the contrary, 

 so austere that they are unfit for eating till they are soft and bletted 

 {vulffo, sleepy), when they acquire a pleasant, sweet vinous flavour. 

 The fruit of the Mountain Ash is also at first austere, but afterwards 

 sour, owing to the acid found in the fruits of all the above Pi/rea 

 being far more copious in this plant. Accordingly this acid (^vi'ongly 

 called sorbic, for it is merely malic acid) is pretty frequently extracted 

 from the drupes of Sorbus aucuparia? In Cydonia'' the astringency 

 of the mesocarp is also well developed. This flesh, of a very 

 pleasant odour in the Common Quince {Ci/donia vvlgans), but 

 nauseous in C. japonica,^ is rich in tannin, and has hence been used 

 in medicine. On being cooked with sugar it becomes sweet and 

 gives an agreeable flavour to the jellies, syrups, and pastes prepared 

 from Quinces. The Plums too may, as we have seen, have austere 

 astringent flesh ; this is especially the case with the sloe and wild bul- 

 lace {Prunus spinosa, insititid). The different races of cultivated Plums 

 have on the contrary, fruits with sweet perfumed juice. They are 

 eaten raw, cooked, in preserves or marmalades, or dried, whether by 

 stove or sun, either as dessert prunes {pruneaux de dessert) or medicinal 

 prunes {pruneaux a medecine) ; the latter are laxative and are prepared 

 from certain particular varieties. A wine and spirit are also obtained 



' Decne., Jard. Fruit, du Mvs. s Pjes.^ Enchir., ii, 40. — DC, Prodr., ii. 



■' Pyrus Aria Eheh., Beitr., iv. 20. 6.38. — Pi/rusJaponicaTnvyB., FL Jap^'ZO"?? . — 



' Gttib., op. cit., 270.— RosENTH., op. cil., 947. C7i(pno»ieles japonica LiVDt. (see p. 395, r.otub 



"• GuiB., op. cit., 267. — Peekiea, op. cit., 6, 7). 

 33.— LiNDL., Fl. Med., 234. 



