BIRD CHERRY. 



135 



The Latin name of Padus for this tree was 

 derived, according to Parkinson, from the 

 offensive smell of the wood; but we are more 

 disposed to think that the Romans named it 

 after their celebrated river Padus, now called 

 the Po. The berries are eagerly sought after 

 by the birds, and as the leaf slightly resem- 

 bles that of the cherry-tree, hence the name 

 of Bird-cherry. In Scotland it is called Hog- 

 berry. Linnaeus has united the bird cherry, 

 the apricot, the cherries, and the common and 

 Portugal laurels, with the plums. Miller 

 treated on them separately, under, padus, 

 armeniaca, cerasus, and prunus; uniting the 

 laurels with padus; Jussieu separates cerasus 

 and armeniaca from prunus ; and unites padus 

 and the laurels with the former: making the 

 difference to consist only in the fruit or drupe. 

 The French call it cerisier a grappes. 



This pretty flowering shrub was much more 

 common in the time of Gerard than at pre- 

 sent. He tells us that in 1596 it grew wild in 

 the woods of Kent, where it was used as a 

 stock to graft cherries on, particularly the 

 Flanders cherry. This old author adds, 

 " This wilde tree groweth very plentifully in 

 the north of England, especially at a place 

 called Heggdale, neere unto Rosgill, in West- 

 merland, and in diners other places, about 



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