144 ROSACF.yE. [Prunua. 



with lax scattered hairs : sometiines though rarely the leaves are nearly glabrous 

 henealh. Petioles from an inch to an inch and a half in length, reddish and 

 slightly downy, grooved above, with a pair of large, ronridish or oval, depressed, 

 crinason glands, situated sometiDies at the very base of the leaf, more commonly 

 at a short distance below it, either opposite each other or a little apart, now and 

 then solitary or absent. Stipules,-^a. pair at the foot of each leafstalk, gland u- 

 loso-ciliate with long subulate points ; viscid and deciduous. Flowers coeta- 

 neous with the expansion of the young leaves, in sessile umbels that are partly 

 scattered, partly aggregate, mostly clustered around a leaf-bud, and that so copi- 

 ously on adult trees as.almost to conceal the branches with the profusion of blos- 

 som, which commonly happens with us about the middle of April. Peduncles 

 from 3 to 5 in each umbel, about 2 inches long, round, glabrous, springing from 

 buds similar to those of the leaves, but of which tlie inner scales never become 

 wholly or in part truly foliaceous, as in the next species ; lax or drooping, slightly 

 enlarged upwards beneath the calyx, each peduncle with a small, oblong, pale 

 and gland-fringed bract, for the most part at its insertion. Calyx campanulate, 

 glabrous, veined or ribbed, hence somewhat angular, and, as noticed by Mr. 

 Leighton, suddenly contracted beneath the 5 ovato-oblong, somewhat pointed,* 

 3-nerved, entire and strongly reflexed segments. Petals white, obovato-rotundate, 

 more or less emarginate, veiny, thin, weak and flaccid, scarcely spreading, quickly 

 fading, with a slight pleasant scent. Stamens partly about the length of the style, 

 partly much shorter, the innermost very short and connivent ; anthers bright yel- 

 low. Gertnen ovate, glabrous, with a line or furrow on cue side, continued spi- 

 rally up the cylindrical somewhat curved style, that gradually enlarges to the flat 

 disciform stiyma in a lateral notch, on which the spiral groove along the style ter- 

 minates. Fruit subcordato-globose, in a. small, bright red, very bitter and acid, 

 not eatable ; in /3. somewhat larger, black, tolerably well tasting, juicy, with some 

 bitterness and but little acidity ; both kinds ripening in July ; nucleus subglobose, 

 a little compressed, quite smooth and even, not bordered. 



6. P. Cerasus, L. Sour Cherry-tree. Morello Cherry. Gall. 

 Cerisier, Fr. Cerises. Fruticose, leaves broadly oblongo-obo- 

 vate or obovato -elliptical cuspidate - acuminate crenato - serrate 

 firm glabrous not drooping, umbels few-flowered mostly scattered, 

 peduncles erect or patent (not lax), inner scales of the flower-buds 

 leafy, sepals obtuse, petals firm widely spreading, root stolonife- 

 rous. Linn. Sp. PI. 679. Br. Fl. p. 116. Bab. Man. 90. E. 

 B. Suppl. iv. t. 2863. Cerasus vulgaris, Mill. Loud. Art. Brit. 

 ii. p. 693. Cer. austera, Leight. Fl. of Shrops. add. 524. P. 

 Cerasus, Hoppe, Ect. Plant, cent. 8, t. 748. Mert. und Koch in 

 Rdhl. DeutschL Fl. iii. 408. Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ. Pollich, 

 Palat. ii. 27. Leers, Fl. Herborn. (ed. 2) 116. Wahlenb. Fl. 

 Upsal. 1G4. P. acida vel austera, Ehrh. teste Wahlenb. et fide 

 spec. Upsaliensis ah Ehrharto ipso in herb, amiciss. Bentham cum 

 nostrat. vectianis comparati. P. caproniana, Oaiid. Fl. Helv. iii. 

 307. Hall. Hist. Stirp. Helv. N. 1083. P. Cer., Lejeune, Rev. 

 cle la Fl. de Spa, 92. Cer. coUina, Lej. et Court. Compend. Fl. 

 Belg. ii. 130. Bcenningh. Fl. Monast. 141. 



In hedgerows, thickets, the borders of woods, on steep broken banks and bushy 

 slopes ; in many places. Fl. April, May. Fr. July, August ? Tj . 



* The calyx-segments are often quite obtuse and rounded, but scarcely ever so 

 broadly as in P. Cerasus, having always a certain degree of taper, or disposition 

 to pointedness. 



