TilE APl'LK. 



321 



while fragraria contains the strawben-y, rasp- 

 berry, and bramble. 



The medicinal properties of many plants of 

 this family are not less active than their fruits 

 are excellent. The principal of these is the well 

 known prussic acid, which exists in abundance 

 in the leaves and Icomcls of many genera, espe- 

 cially in prunus and amygdalas. It is the active 

 ingredient in laurel water, which, when taken 

 in small doses, acts either as an emetic or violent 

 purgative, and in larger doses, proves almost in- 

 stantly fatal by at once destroying the imtabi- 

 lity of animal fibre without any organic change 

 of structure, such as inflammation. Some of 

 the other genera, as the drupacem, yield a gum, 

 similar to gum Arabic ; and this shows the near 

 affinity of the two families of leguminosce and 

 rosacea;. Others yield an astringent principle, 

 and are employed in medicine and the arts. The 

 root of the tormentilla was formerly used in 

 Scotland for tanning leather, and is still so used 

 in the Ferro islands ; while that of the capollim 

 cherry is similarly employed in Mexico. The 

 bark of primus Virginiana is used as a febrifuge 

 in the United States of America; and that of 

 potentilla reptans has been praised for the same 

 properties. The root oigeum urbanum has been 

 found, by Milandi and Moretti, to contain one- 

 eleventh of its weight of tannin. It has been 

 used both in America and Europe as a substitute 

 for Peruvian bark. The leaves of drj/as octopc- 

 tala in the north of Europe, of ridtus arctimis in 

 Norway, of prunus spinosa and avium, and of 

 rosa rubightosa, have been dried and used as a 

 sort of substitute for tea. The bark of the root 

 oi gallenia trifoliata is remarkable in having, in 

 addition to the astringency already mentioned, 

 an emetic property, on whifch account it is em- 

 ployed in North America in place of ipecacuanha. 

 It is said that a similar power exists in other 

 spircei. The family rosacew nearly cori'osponds 

 to the class icosandria of Linnaeus. The leaves 

 are alternate, simple, or compound, accompanied 

 at the base by two persistent stipules, sometimes 

 united to the petiole. The calyx is monopeta- 

 lous, with four or five divisions ; the corolla con- 

 sists generally of four or five regularly spreading 

 and delicate petals; the stamina are generally 

 very numerous and distinct ; the pistil is formed 

 of one or several carpels, either free and distinct, 

 or adherent by their outer sides to the calyx; 

 sometimes they are also united to each other, or 

 collected into a kind of capitulum upon a recep- 

 tacle ; tlie stj'le is alwaj's more or less lateral, 

 and the stigma simple. The form and position 

 of the fruit is extremely diversified. 



We proceed to consider the fruit-bearing trees 

 and plants of this family, and shall commence 

 with the apple. 



The Apple fpi/rus malus). The English 

 name of this well known fruit is said to bo de- 



rived from the Greek apios, and the Celtic api, 

 both signifying a fruit. The apple is essentially 

 a fruit of the colder and more temperate regions 

 of the globe, over which it is almost universally 

 spread and cultivated. The tree attains a mode- 

 rate height, with spreading branches; the leaf 

 ovate, and the flowers, terminating in umbels, 

 are produced from the wood of the former year, 

 but more generally from very short shoots or 

 spurs, from wood of two years' growth. The 

 fruit is roundish, umbilical at the base, and of 

 an acid flavour. The original of the cultivated 

 apple is the wild crab, which is armed with 

 spines or thorns, has serrate leaves, and a small 

 extremely acrid fruit, and is to be found as an 

 indigenous tree in most of the countries of Eu- 

 rope. From the crab all the numerous varieties 

 of the apple, which are cultivated so extensively 

 in most parts of Europe and in North America, 

 have been derived. The apple tree is supposed 

 by some to attain a great age. Ilaller men- 

 tions some trees in Herefordshire that attained a 

 thousand years, and were highly prolific ; but 

 Knight considers two hundred years as the or- 

 dinary duration of a healthy tree, grafted on a 

 crab stock, and planted in a strong tenacious soil. 

 Speichly mentions a tree in an orchard at Bur- 

 ton-joyce, near Nottingham, of about sixty yeai-s 

 old, with branches extending from seven to nino 

 yards round the bole, which in ] 793 produced 

 upwards of a hundred joecks of apples. Of all 

 the diff\>rent fruits of the colder Lath udes, the 

 apple is perhaps the most serviceable. It is of 

 easy culture, remains the longest in season, is 

 used in the greatest number of ways, and is uni- 

 versally relished. The stone fruits of the Bri- 

 tish orchard keep only for a few days, unless 

 they are preserved, and in this state they lose 

 that natural flavour on which their value chiefly 

 depends. Many of the finer pears keep only for 

 a short time, when they ferment and become 

 vapid ; while there are apples of very rich fla- 

 vour, which, with care, can be preserved from 

 one fruit season till the commencement of an- 

 other. 



The celebrated traveller Von Bueh has re- 

 marked, that the apple and the commoner fruit 

 trees grow in the open air wherever oaks thrive; 

 accordingly we find the apple cultivated to the 

 sixtieth degree of north latitude. Even in the 

 Orkney and Shetland islands very good apples 

 grow. As we proceed farther north the apple is 

 scarcely known. The people of Lapland showed 

 Linnffius what thoy called an apple tree, which, 

 they said, bore no fruit, because it had been 

 cursed by a beggar woman, to whom the owner 

 of the tree had refused Sfiae'cjf its produce. The 

 naturalist found tliat it was the common elm, a 

 tree also rare in that severi climate. The apple, 

 as well as most other European fruits, which 

 now appear indigenous, is probably a native of 

 2s 



