682 PRUNUS. [CLASS XII. ORDER I. 



and mixed with cream, and kept constantly applied to the part affected. 

 It is a curious and ornamental plant, especially when in flower, and 

 adds no little of picturesque beauty to the low thatched roofs of the 

 rustic dwellings, and old buildings and walls in many of the rural 

 districts. 



CLASS XII. 

 ICOSAN'DRIA. 



(Twenty or more Stamens placed upon the Calyx.) 



ORDER I. 



MONOGYN'IA. 1 Pjstil. 



GENUS I. PRU'NUS.— Linn. Plum. 



Nat. Ord. UosA'cEiE. Juss. 



Gen. Char. Calyx five cleft, inferior. Petals five. Fruit a per- 

 sistent fleshy drupe, covered with a blue powder, or bloom. Nut 

 smooth, having a slightly elevated seam. — Leaves convolute in 

 vernation. — Named ir^ovvn, in Greek, according to Theophrastus. 



1. P. domes' tica, Linn. (Fig, 779.) Wild Plum, Tree. Flowers 

 solitary, or in pairs ; leaves ovale lanceolate; branches without spines; 

 fruit oblong. 



English Botany, t. 1783.— English Flora, vol. ii. p. 355. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, ed 2. vol. i, p. 195. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 90. 



A moderate sized tree, the branches without thorns. Leaves ovate 

 lanceolate, sharply serrated, sometimes glandular at the base, hairy on 

 the under side, especially when young, nearly smooth above, the edges 

 coiled inwards in the bud. Footstalk short. »S'a'joi«Zes linear, deciduous, 

 with glandular margins. Floivers solitary, or in pairs, on short 

 pedicles. Calyx inferior, five cleft. Petals white, oblong ovate. 

 Fruit oblong, rarely" globular, persistent, fleshy, purple, violet green 

 or yellow, and covered over with a fine powdery bloom. 



Habitat. — Woods and hedges ; naturalized. 



Tree ; flowering in April and May. 



This is generally considered the parent of the common garden plum, 

 of which there are upwards of three hundred varieties known, and it 

 is thought by many that the two following species, P. insititia and 



