IN EXTRA-TROPICAL COUNTRIES. 261 



rich porous soil in the upper parts of valleys. Wood pale red, 

 dense, iGne-grained ; when polished, as beautiful as mahogany 

 wood (Robb and Simmonds). It will live on the poorest soil, 

 and even within the salt spray of the coast. Wood close- 

 grained, compact, not liable to warp, easily worked and 

 ebonized. Readily raised from seeds and transplanted j not 

 succumbing under rough usage (Sargent). 



Prunus spinosa, Linn^. 



The Sloe or Blackthorn. Wild in many parts of Europe. 

 With its flowers it is one of the earliest plants to announce the 

 spring. Its tendency to throw out suckers renders the bush 

 less adapted for hedges of gardens than of fields, but these 

 suckers furnish material for walking-sticks. The small fruits 

 can be made into preserves. P. insititia (L.), the Bullace, 

 with larger and sometimes yellow fruits, extends, as a variety, 

 to North Africa and Middle Asia. Sir Joseph Hooker and 

 other phytographers consider P. domestica not specifically dis- 

 tinct from P. spinosa. Of medical value are P. Lauro-Cerasus 

 (L.), the evergreen Cherry-Laurel from the Orient, and P. 

 Padus (L.), the deciduous Bird's Cherry, which extends from 

 Europe to North Africa and West Asia. These and most other 

 species contain in their foliage and in some other parts amyg- 

 dahn. Perhaps some of the species from Eastern Asia, Cali- 

 fornia, and tropical America are eligible for improving their 

 • fruit through horticultural skill. The Sloe and others might 

 with advantage be naturalised on forest streams. 



Prunus Virginiana, Linne. 



The Choke Cherry Tree of the United States. In a mild clime 

 and fertile soil this tree attains a height of 100 feet and a stem 

 of 16 feet in circumference. The wood is compact, fine- 

 grained, and not liable to warp when perfectly seasoned, of a 

 dull, light-red tint, deepening with age. The fruit finally loses 

 its austerity. 



Psamma arenaria, Roemer and Schultes. (P. Uttoralis, Beauvois ; 

 Calamagrostis arenaria, Roth.) 



The Moram, or Marrem, or Bent Grass. Sand-coasts of Europe, 

 North Africa, and Middle North America. One of the most 

 important of reedy grasses, with long descending roots, for 

 binding moving drift-sands on the sea-shore, for the consoli- 

 dation of which in Europe chiefly this tall grass and Llymus 

 arenarius are employed. It delights in the worst of drift- 

 sands, and for its full flourishing gradual accumulation of fresh 

 sand around it becomes necessary (Wessely) : hence it never 



