ROSACEyE. 117 



Look then from trivial up to greater woes, 

 Fmm the poor bii-d-boy with his roasted Sloes, 

 To where the dungeoned luourner heaves the sigh, 

 Where not one cheering sunbeam meets his eye. 

 Though ineffectual pity thine may be. 

 No wealth, no power to set the captive free. 

 Thy slights can make the wretched more forlorn, 

 And deeper drive affection's barbed thorn. 

 Say not, ' I'll come and cheer thy gloomy cell 

 With news of dearest friends, how good, how well ; 

 I'll be a joyful herald to thine heart,' 

 Then fail, and play the worthless trifler's part." 



Sub-Species II.— Pninus insititia. Linn. 

 Plate CCCCIX. 



P. communis, j3 insititia, Bab. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. v. p. 91. Benth. Handbook Brit. 

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



A large shrub with nearly straight branches, only a few of the 

 old ones terminating in spines, the younger ones downy. Leaves 

 oblong-obovate or obovate, pubescent beneath. Peduncles mostly 

 in pairs, downy. Plowers expanding as the leaves begin to appear. 

 Petals roundish. Pruit large, globular, drooping. 



In thickets, woods, and hedges ; not uncommon in England, 

 more rare in Scotland, and probably not wUd north of the Porth 

 and Clyde. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Shrub. Spring. 



Very like the common sloe, which appears to pass into it by 

 insensible gradations. The present sub-species, however, is gene- 

 rally of larger growth, with the leaves and flowers considerably 

 larger ; the former broader with the broadest part generally beyond 

 the middle, and the underside remaining pubescent ; the latter 

 f inch in diameter. The peduncles are not so often solitary, but in 

 both forms they vary from 1 to 3 or 4. The petals are broader, the 

 fruit much larger — f inch or more, and drooping from its weight, 

 bluish-black, rarely yellow ; it has not the austere taste of the sloe. 



£ullace. 



French, Prunier Sauvage. German, Haferschlelte. 



When in blossom, this tree can hardly be distinguished from the Blackthorn, and 

 the fruit is very similar, having the same acid qualities, but not so rough, and when 

 boiled with sugar it is by no means unpleasant. A variety jrields white fruit, so that 

 we have the white and the black Bidlace. The fruit of this plum is known in Dau- 

 phine under the name of alfatores, and in Provence they are called sibarelks, because 

 it is impossible to whistle after having eaten them, from their sourness. The wood, 

 the branches, and the entire plant are used throughout France for the same purposes 

 as that of the Sloe. 



