C ERAS US, CHERRY TREE. 177 



The leaves are small, at most two-&-a-half inches long by fifteen lignes wide. 

 They're widest much closer to the tip than to the stalk where they're considerably & quite 

 uniformly tapered. They're slightly folded inward along the central vein. The margins are 

 finely denticulated & bidenticulated near their point. They're held firmly on stalks eight 

 to ten lignes long. 



The flowers, like those on the preceding tree, are a bit smaller than the ones on the 

 early cherry tree (ten lignes in diameter). Up to six of them emerge from the same bud. 

 They're composed of five petals, sometimes six or seven, thirty to forty-five stamens, and 

 from one to twelve pistils with the same number of ovaries at their base. They're all 

 attached to the bottom of the calyx without adhering to one another. 



These ovaries, some of which occasionally fail to develop, become round fruit 

 that are flatter at the ends. They're generally uneven in size (the biggest ones are eight-&- 

 a-half lignes in diameter by nearly seven lignes high). They form a bouquet or group at 

 the end of the stalk that is twelve to fifteen lignes long. The stalk is quite thick, very 

 rounded, & has no grooves so it doesn't seem to have been formed from several stalks 

 joined together. Each cherry is attached to it by a ligament or small flat filament that 

 emerges from the inside edges of the end of the stalk. They're pressed against each other 

 very tightly & flattened on the sides where they make contact, but they're not joined or 

 stuck together. Each cherry has a white pit. In the biggest ones it's four lignes long, three- 

 &-a-half lignes wide, and two-&-a-half lignes thick. On young trees a single stalk bears 

 only one, two, three, or at most five cherries. Bouquets of eight to twelve are found only 

 on old trees. 



The skin, a light & vivid red, is somewhat firm. 



