THE DWARF CHERRIES 235 



the genesis of garden forms. And yet even here, 

 upon the very threshold of their introduction into 

 domestic gardens, we Bhall find certain points which 

 can be understood or explained only by inference. 



These dwarf cherries are the American congeners 

 of tin- ground <>r dwarf cherry of Europe and north- 

 ern Asia, which is known as Prunus Chamacera&us, 

 and which is in cultivation in this country for orna- 

 ment. This European plant is bo like our own that 

 it has received the name of Prunus pumila — which is 

 the American plant - from nurserymen who have been 

 instrumental in disseminating it. There are two 

 species of dwarf cherry which are concerned in this 

 contemporaneous evolution, but only one of them 

 seems i<» promise much under domestication. These 

 an- the sand cherry {Prunus pumila, Fig. 38), and 

 the western dwarf cherry {Prunus Besseyi, Fig. 39). 

 Tin- history <>f this dwarf cherry group was first writ- 

 ten by the present author less than four years ago 

 ("The Native Dwarf Cherries;" Bulletin To of the 

 Cornel] Experiment Station), and it was upon thai 



asion that the western planl was separated from 



the eastern plant, and designated as Prunus Besseyi, 

 in compliment t<> Professor Charles E. Bessey, of the 

 University of Nebraska, who has often called attention 

 to the merits of the fruit. 



< >t' these two cherries, the better known to bota- 

 nists is the common dwarf or sand cherry of the K:i>-t. 

 Prunus pumila, which grows chieflj upon sand} and 

 rocky shons from northern Maine to the District of 

 Columbia and northwestward to Lake of the Woods. 

 It i- abundant among the Greal Lakes, where it often 

 grows in drifting sand. The plant is strictly erect 



