XXXVI. ROSA‘CEE: ARMENT‘'ACA. 27) 
Many of the species are spiny in a wild state; most of them bear edible. 
fruits; and all of them have showy blossoms. In British gardens, they are 
chiefly propagated by grafting, but some of them by layers ; and they will grow 
in any soil that is tolerably free, and not overcharged with moisture, but a cal- 
careous soil is found best. The epidermis of the bark of the plum, as well as 
that of the cherry, and perhaps that of some of the other genera of Amygdalez, 
is readily divisible transversely, and may frequently be seen divided in this 
manner into rings on the tree. 
* 1. P.spino‘sa L. The spiny Plum Tree, or common Sloe Thorn. 
Identification. Lin. Sp., 3. 681.; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 532.; Don’s Mill., 2. p. 498. , 
Synonymes. P. sylvestris Fuch. Hist. p. 404., Ray Syn. p. 462.; Blackthorn; Prunier épineux, 
Prunellier, E’pine noire, or Mére-du-Bois, Fr.; Schleadorn, or Schlen Pflaum, Ger. ; Prugno, or 
Prunello, Jtal. 
Engravings, Vahl Fl. Dan.,t. 926.; the plate in Arb. Brit., Ist edit., vol. v.; and our jig. 437. 
Derivation The name of Mére-du-Bois is applied to the sloe thorn in France, in the neighbourhood 
of Montargis, because it has been remarked there, that, when it was established on the margins of 
woods, its underground shoots, and the suckers which sprang up from them, had a constant ten- 
dency to extend the wood over the adjoining fields. 
Spec. Char., Sc. Branches spiny. Leaves obovate, elliptical, or ovate ; downy 
beneath, doubly and sharply toothed. Flowers produced before the leaves 
or with them, white, and solitary. Calyx campanulate; with lobes blunt, 
and longer than the tube. Fruit globose; the flesh austere. (Dec. Prod.) 
A low tree or shrub. Europe from Upsal to Naples, and the West of 
Asia and North of Africa. Height 10 ft. to 15 ft. Flowers white; March 
and April. Drupe black ; ripe in October. 
Varieties. an : 
* P. s. 1 vulgaris Ser. P. spindsa Lois, (N. Du Ham., 5. p. 185. t. 54. 
f. 1.) — Leaves obovate-elliptical. Fruit dark purple. This may be 
considered as the normal form of the species. 
£ P. s, 2 foliis variegatis Ser.— Found wild; but a plant of no beauty. 
¥ P. s. 3 microcérpa Wallr. (Exs. Cent. 1. No. 45.) — Leaves elliptic, 
narrow, bluntish. Fruit smaller than that of the species. 
* P. s. 4 macrocérpa Wallr. (Exs. Cent. 1. No. 45.) — Leaves obovate, 
bluntish. Fruit large, dark purple. This has been found wild in 
Germany; but Seringe doubts whether it be not identical with P. 
doméstica Juliana, or with P. insititia. 
¥ P. ». 5 ovata Ser. (Blackw. Herb., t. 494.)-— Leaves ovate, roundish. 
¥ P. s. 6 flore pléno.— This is a very beautiful variety, said to be in cul- 
tivation, and highly prized, in China and Japan ; and also found wild 
some years ago at Tarascon. The flowers are white, and are pro- 
duced in such abundance as to entirely cover the branches. 
The sloe, or blackthorn, is much more frequently seen as a large spiny shrub, 
than as a tree; but, when the suckers are removed from it, and all the strength 
of the plant is allowed to go into one stem, it forms a small scrubby tree of the 
most characteristic kind. The stems of the sloe differ from those of the haw- 
thorn, in growing to the height of 3 or 4 feet before they branch off. The 
bark is black, whence the name of blackthorn ; and the leaves are dark green. 
The roots are creeping, and, in every soil and situation, throw up numerous 
suckers ; so much so, that a single plant, in a favourable soil, would cover an 
acre of ground ina very few years. In hedges, in Britain, it is seldom seen 
above 20 ft. in height ; but in woods and in parks, as single trees, we have seen 
it above 30 ft. high: for example, in Eastwell Park, in Kent. The wood is 
hard, and in colour resembles that of the peach, though without its beauty : it 
takes a fine polish; but it is so apt to crack, that little use can be made of it, 
except for handles for tools, teeth for hay-rakes, swingles_ for flails, and 
walking-sticks. The wood weighs, when dry, nearly 52]b. per cubic foot. 
The branches, from being less spreading than those of the common hawthorn, 
make better dead hedges than those of that species; and. for the same reason, 
they are particularly well adapted for forming guards to the stems of trees 
