111 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



the exterior portion of the pericarp fleshy or dry, separating when 

 matvire from the inner layer, which is woody and forms the 

 so-called stone of the fruit which incloses the seed or kernel. Seed 

 mostly solitary. 



QENVS I.—V R U N U S. Linn. 



Calyx with the tube urceolate-hemispherical, 5-toothed, the 

 segments imbricated in aestivation, the upper part deciduous. 

 Petals 5, spreading, inserted in the throat of the calyx. Stamens 

 15 to 30, inserted close within the petals. Drupe fleshy, with 

 the stone smooth or furrowed, containing a single seed. 



Trees or shrubs, with leaves varying from obovate to oblong or 

 elliptical, seri*ate or crenate at the margins, generally furnished 

 with glands on the petiole close to the base of the lamina. Stipules 

 small. Flowers produced early, solitary, in pairs, or in umbels or 

 racemes. 



The name of this genus of jilants is said to be of Asiatic origin, the wild plant, 

 according to Galen, being called Trpmifwoc lj>roumnos) in Asia. The Greek name for 

 the plum is irpowr) (prounc) : it occurs in Theophrastus. 



Stjb-Gentjs I.— EU-PEUNUS. 



Young leaves convolute. Plowers lateral, solitary or in pairs, 

 produced from flower-buds distinct from the leaf-buds, expanding 

 before the leaves or at the same time with them. Drupe covered 

 externally with a whitish bloom ; stone compressed, somewhat 

 sulcated at the margins, slightly rugose on the faces. 



SPECIES!.— PRUNUS COMMUNIS. Huda. 

 Plates CCCCVIII. CCCCIX. CCCCX. 



Leaves oblong-oblanceolate, elliptical, oblong-obovate, or obovate, 

 coarsely and bluntly serrated, appearing after the flowers or along 

 with them. Peduncles solitary or in pairs (rarely 3 or 4 together). 

 Pruit ovoid or globose. 



Sub-Species I.— Prunus spinosa. Lirm. 



Plate CCCCVIII. 



P. communis, a spinosa, Bab. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. v. p. 91. Benth. Handbook Brit 

 Fl. p. 185. Hook. & Am. Brit. Fl. ed. viiL p. 118. 



