Prunus 1 545 



6. Var. bracteosa, Seringe, in De CandoUe, Prod. ii. 539 {1825). Leaves at the 

 base of the raceme very large. 



7. Var. aucubcsfolia, Kirchner, Arb. Muse. 259 (1864). Leaves spotted with 

 yellow. 



8. Var. aurea, Nicholson, Kew Hand-List Trees, i. 229 (1902). Leaves yellow 



9. Forms, pyramidal and pendulous in habit, are also in cultivation ; and a 

 variety with double flowers is mentioned by Schneider, and is in cultivation at Kew. 



Distribution 



P. Padus is the most widely distributed of all the species of Prunus, occurring 

 throughout nearly all Europe, in Siberia, Manchuria, Japan, north China, the 

 Caucasus, Persia, and the Himalayas. 



In Europe, it is more common in the north, as in Scandinavia, Denmark, and 

 northern Russia ; but is also widely spread in central Europe, and extends in the 

 south to the mountains of northern Portugal, the Sierra Nevada in Spain, Pyrenees, 

 Apennines, and the mountainous regions of the northern Balkan States. In 

 Russia, it extends as far north as the Kola peninsula ; but is rare in the southern 

 provinces, and does not occur on the mountains of the Crimea. Bode ^ saw a tree in 

 Courland, 40 feet in height and 4 feet in girth. 



In the British Isles, it is most common in the Highlands ; but occurs in many 

 woods in northern England, ascending to 1500 feet in Yorkshire. In Radnorshire 

 and other parts of Wales it is in waste places more often a shrub than a tree. 

 It has been found ^ in the fossil state in neolithic beds at Northampton, Hornsea 

 and Sand le Meer in Yorkshire, and at Hailes near Edinburgh, and in interglacial 

 deposits at Selsey, Sussex, and at Airdrie, Lanarkshire. In Ireland, it is widely 

 distributed,^ occurring in old woods and in river glens ; but is absent from the 

 southern uplands and rare on the central plain. (A. H.) 



Dr. Walker* states that at Drumlanrig there were in 1773 two trees about 

 40 feet high, one being no less than 8 feet in girth. In 1834, however, they had 

 quite disappeared. We have seen none approaching these in size. 



Schiibeler says that in Norway where the tree is called " Hegg," from which 

 the Scotch name hagberry is no doubt derived, he saw a tree at MoUenhof near 

 Drammen, which was 58 ft. high, by 5 ft. 5 in. in girth ; and in Sweden he mentions 

 one which at i foot from the ground was 9 ft. in girth. 



Though now seldom planted in England, the bird cherry is very ornamental 

 when in flower, easily raised from seed, and flourishes on poor dry soil. Loudon 

 strongly recommends the variety bracteosa, on account of its large pendulous racemes 

 of flowers and fruit. 



I have not heard of any use being made of its hard yellowish wood in England, 

 but in France it was formerly used by country cabinetmakers. (H. J. E.) 



1 Koppen, Hohgewdchse Europ. Russlands, i. 300 (1888). 2 Q,i. C. Reid, Origin British Flora, 114 (1899). 



3 Praeger, in Proc. Roy. Irish Acad. vii. 95 (1901). * Essays on Nat. Hist. 74 {1812). 



