82 



CALYCIFLOR^ 



the fruit oblong. From one or other of these three all the cultivated 

 varieties of Plum are supposed to have originated.— Fl. April, May. 

 Small tree. 



Fruit without bloom ; young leaf with the halves folded together 



3. P. Pad us (Bird-Cherry). — Flowers in 

 pendulous racemes ; leaves narrow, egg- 

 shaped ; fruit ovid, black, bitter ; stone 

 lugged. A handsome shrub, or small tree, 

 not uncommon in the north of England in 

 a wild state, and common in gardens and 

 shrubberies elsewhere. The racemes of 

 flowers and drupes are not unlike those of 



i the Portugal Laurel, to which the plant is 

 nearly allied, but the leaves are not ever- 

 green. — Fl. white, May. Small tree. 



4. P. avium (Wild Cherry). — Flowers in 

 umbels ; leaves drooping, suddenly pointed, 

 downy beneath ; calyx - tube contracted 

 above ; fruit heart-shaped, small, bitter, 

 black or red, and is greedily devoured by 



Prunus Padus (Bird-Chnry) birds as sooD as„ ripe. A highly orna- 

 mental tree, not only on account of its 

 elegant white flowers in spring, but even 

 more so in autumn, when its leaves assume 

 a bright crimson hue. — Fl. May. A lofty 

 tree without suckers. 



5. P. cerasus (Red Cherry). — Flowers in 

 umbels ; leaves not drooping, smooth on 

 both sides ; calyx-tube not contracted ; 

 fruit round, juicy, acid, always red. This 

 species is distinguished from the pre- 

 ceding by the characters given above and 

 by its lower stature, which is said not to 

 exceed 8 feet, while the other attains a 

 height of 30-40 feet ; it also sends up ^.^ 

 numerous suckers from the roots. Some "^^^ 

 botanists, however, consider them mere 

 varieties of the same tree. From one or 

 other all the cultivated kinds of cherry 

 are derived. Woods and hedges ; not so 

 common. — Fl. May. Shrub. /S^jJP^^^S? 



2. SPIR.EA (Meadow-sweet) 



I. S. ulmaria (Meadow-sweet, Oueen of .^^'^J^a' Ulmaria (fcadow; 

 iu iv/r J \ A u J 1 "1 Sweet, Queen of the Meadows) 



the Meadows). — A handsome herbaceous 



