THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK 1 5 



for cultivation either for their fruits or as stocks upon which to grow 

 edible cherries. The following is a brief conspectus of the edible species 

 of Prunus followed by a ftiller conspectus of the sub-genus Cerasus to 

 which cherries belong. 



A CLASSIFICATION OF CULTIVATED CHERRIES 



The genus Prunus is variously delimited and divided by systematic 

 botanists. A simple, and from a horticultural point of view, a very satis- 

 factory classification, is to put almonds and peaches in one sub-genus 

 (Amygdalus), cherries in a second (Cerasus), plums and apricots in a third 

 (Euprunus), and to place the racemose cherries and cherry-laurels, usually 

 considered in Prunus, in another genus, Padus. In this division of Prunus 

 into three sub-genera we may assign to each the following characters. 



A. Leaves convolute, i. e., rolled in the bud (showing best in the opening buds).^ 

 Euprunus. Plums and apricots. 

 A.A. Leaves conduplicate, i. e., folded lengthwise along the midrib in the bud. 



B. Fruit more or less dry and hirsute; if juicy or glabrous the blossoms appear 

 long before the opening of the leaves; fruits without stems. 

 Amygdalus. Almonds and peaches. 

 B.B. Fruit always juicy and usually glabrous; blooms appearing with the leaves. 

 Cerasus. Cherries. 



Of these several divisions we are here concerned only with Cerasus, 

 to which belong all fascicled cherries, the racemose, or Padus, cherries as 

 yet having little or no value as esculents. The genus Prunus is from year 

 to year being enlarged by the discovery of new species, the additions to 

 Cerasus in particular being niunerous. Thus, a decade ago, botanists 

 placed in this sub-genus, at the outside, not more than a score of species 

 but Koehne, the most recent monographer of Cerasus, describes 119 species. 

 Of Koehne's species at least a dozen are more or less cultivated for their 

 fruits and a score or more are grown as ornamentals. 



The following species are listed by Koehne:^ 



' The leaves are conduplicate in vernation in a few species of American plums; these species are 

 intermediate between plums and cherries. 



^ The species are given as classified by Koehne, Plantae Wilsonianae Pt. 2:237-271. 1912. The 

 liberty has been taken of changing the form of Koehne's citations to conform to that used at this Station. 

 For the sake of brevity some of the citations of the original author have been omitted. Space does not 

 permit the publication of Koehne's system of classification. This may be found in Plantae Wilsonianae 

 Pt. 2:226-237. I9I2- 



Conservative botanists will hardly accept all of Koehne's species, in describing which the author tells 

 us he labored under the difficulty of paucity of material and that as more material comes to hand there 



