Prunus and Spinus 

 Prunus and Spinus. 



' cerea pruna ' (Ec. ii. 53). 



' spinos iam pruna ferentes ' (Ge. iv. 145). 



The plum (Prunus communis) is divided into 

 several sub-species, and of these one at least had 

 broken into so many varieties that Pliny could say, 

 'ingens turba prunorum.' This is P. domestica, 

 of which the wild fruit is very dark. In cultivation 

 the blue plums were less valued than the yellow or, 

 as Virgil calls them, the waxen, such as our golden 

 drop. 



Virgil's 'spinus' is the blackthorn or sloe, under 

 whose thickets the Sicilian lizards take refuge from 

 the midday heat (Ec. ii. 9). It was used as a stock 

 for grafting the plum, while the wild plum itself and 

 the bullace (P. insititia) were used as stocks for the 

 cornel (Ge. ii. 34). The blackthorn is a common 

 hedge shrub in Italy, but the wild plum seems to be 

 found only in cultivation. It should be said that 

 Arcangeli's P. communis is the almond. His name 

 for the plum, which he makes a distinct species, is 

 P. domestica. 



Flower, March and April. 

 Italian names : Susino (plum). 



Prugnolo and Vegro (sloe). 



Robur, Quercus, Aesculus. 



The two forms of the English oak are so closely 

 allied that modern botanists refuse them specific 

 rank, and class them as varieties. The botanical 



107 



