164 CHINESE ECONOMIC TREES 



PRUNUS 



Trees "or shrubs. Leaves deciduous or persistent, alternate, simple, 

 usually serrate, petiolate; petioles often glandular. Flowers in umbels, 

 racemes, corymbs or solitary, perfect. Calyx tubular, 5 lobed, often 

 colored; petals 6, white or pink, deciduous; stamens numerous (usually 

 15-20), perigynous, inserted on the calyx tube with the petals; ovary 1 

 celled, terminated by a single style; ovules 2. Fruit a 1-seeded drupe, 

 fleshy or coriaceous; stone bony, round or compressed, indehiscent, 1- 

 seeded by abortion. 



About 120 species mostly in the temperate regions of N. America, 

 Asia and Europe. Under the genus, plums, almonds, peaches, apricots, 

 and cherries are now included. They are extensively cultivated for their 

 fruits, which form an important food for man. The bark and leaves of 

 several species have medicinal properties. A few are arborescent, yielding 

 a hard, close grained, durable wood, generally brown in color, more or 

 less tinged with red, used for interior finish, furniture and musical 

 instruments. Many members of the genus have a high ornamental value 

 and are cultivated sometimes exclusively for their bloom. 



The species of Primus are too many to describe in this work. The 

 divisions of the genus are: 



Subgenus I. Prunaphora, plums, prunes and apricots. 

 ,, II. Amygdalus includes almonds and peaches. 



,, III. Cerasus includes the common cherries. 



,, IV. Paclus includes those cherries usually known as 



bird-cherries in which the flowers are produced in 



long racemes. 



Prunus padus Linnajus. 



Bird Cherrry. 



A shrub or small tree, 10 m. tall. Bark speckled and rough. 

 Branchlets glabrous. Leaves conduplicate in the bud, about 10 cm. long, 

 elliptic to oblong-ovate to oboyate-oblong, acuminate, glabrous, sharply 

 and finely serrate; petiole glabrous and glandular at the apex. Leaves 

 unfolding very early in spring. Flowers in long drooping racemes, white, 

 on slender peduncles; calyx glabrous; sepals twice as long as the stamens. 

 Fruit globose, black, lustrous, about 8 mm.' in diameter. Stone rough. 



Very widely distributed throughout Europe, Caucasus, Siberia, China, 

 and Japan. The bark and leaves which are unpleasantly odorous when 

 bruised, contain an astringent, bitter property used in medicine. 



