140 



Rosacece Prunus. 



order numbers 71 genera and about 1,000 species, occurring in 

 all parts of the globe. This is one of the most important 

 groups of plants, furnishing numerous useful species, such as 

 the Apple, Pear, Plum, Cherry, Strawberry, and Easpberry, 

 besides many of the most ornamental shrubs and herbaceous 

 plants of our gardens. 



TRIBE I. PRUNED. 



, Calyx usually deciduous : lobes ebracteate. Stamens many. 

 Carpel 1 ; style terminal ; ovules 2, pendulous." Fruit drupa- 

 ceous, not included within the calyx-tube. Trees or shrubs. 



1. PHtTNUS. 



(Inclnding- jlmygdalus, Armeniaca, Persica, and Cerasus.) 



Evergreen or deciduous trees or shrubs. Leaves 

 simple, alternate, often serrulate. Flowers soli- 

 tary, racemose, or in fascicled corymbs, white or 

 rose. The number of the species is estimated at 

 about eighty, chiefly inhabiting the temperate 

 zone of the northern hemisphere, fewer in tropical 

 America and Asia. Prunus is the Latin name of 

 the Plum-tree. 



There are several species belonging to this 

 genus, of which the names will be sufficient, such 

 as P. spinosa, Sloe or Blackthorn, with its varie- 

 ties from which the Plums and Bullace of our 

 gardens are believed to have sprung ; P. Cerasus, 

 Cherry, of which there is an interesting double- 

 flowered variety ; P. Persica, the Peach, also 

 furnishes several handsome varieties with double 

 flowers (fig. 79) ; P. Icevis, Nectarine ; P. Arme- 

 niaca, Apricot; P. Sinensis fibre dlbo plena, and 

 fl. roseo plena, require no further description ; 

 and P. triloba (Amyydalopsis) is a very hand- 

 some early flowering shrub with more or less 

 3-lobed leaves and white or rose large double 

 flowers appearing before the leaves. Besides the 

 above there are some other useful species, such as 

 P. Virginiana ; and also other varieties of the 

 rig. 79. Prunus Peach, Almond, and some Japanese and Chinese 



allied species, will be found in the 



catalogues 



