chap. xlii. t?osa cem. ^my'gdalus. 673 



Photi'nia Lindl. Carpels 2 ; when in the state of ovary, villose. Petals 

 reflexed. Shrubs, or low trees. Evergreen. Flowers in terminal pa- 

 nicles. Leaves simple, leathery, sawed or entire. In P. integrifolia, the 

 ovaries are 3, and each includes 2 ovules. 



Coton ea^ter Medik. Carpels 2 — 3 ; in the state of ovary enclosing 2 

 ovules. Shrubs or low trees. Leaves simple, entire, woolly beneath. 

 Flowers in lateral spreading corymbs. 



Amela'nchier Medik. Ovaries 5, each divided by a partition, so that there 

 are 10 cells ; ovules, 1 in each cell. Ripe pome including 3 — 5 carpels. 

 Petals lanceolate. Small trees. Leaves simple, serrate, deciduous. 

 Flowers in racemes. 



Me'spilus Lindl. Fruit top-shaped, spreadingly open at the top. Carpels 

 2 — 5 compressed nuts with bony shells, each including 1 seed. Small 

 trees, spiny or not. Leaves lanceolate, serrulate, deciduous. Flowers 

 large, subsessile, subsolitary. 



Py^rus Lindl. Carpels 5, or 2 — 5. Seeds 2 in each carpel. Trees or 

 shrubs. Leaves simple or pinnate, deciduous. Flowers in spreading ter- 

 minal cymes or corymbs. 



Cydo v nia Tonrn. Carpels 5, each including many seeds. Low trees. 





Sect. I. ^MYGDA^LE^ JllSS. 



Genus I. 



( ft Life 



^MY'GDALUS Tonrn. The Almond Tree. Lin. Syst. Icosandria 



Monogynia. 



Identification. Tourn. Inst, t. 402. j Dec. Fl. Fr., 4. p. 486. ; Prod., 2. p. 330. ; Don's Mill,, 2. p. 482. 



Synonymes. Amygdalophora Neck. ; Amandier, Fr. ; Mandelbaum, Ger. 



Derivation. From amvsso, to lacerate, in reference to the fissured shell of the nut. Martinius sus- 

 pects that it comes from a Hebrew word which signifies vigilant ; because its early flowers announce 

 the return of spring. 



Description, fyc. Deciduous shrubs or trees of the middle size, natives 

 of the north of Africa, and the mountains of Asia ; also of Russia, and the 

 Levant. The fruit-bearing species are cultivated in the middle and south 

 of Europe and the Levant ; and are propagated chiefly by grafting ; and 

 the others by grafting, layers, or suckers. The almond was included by 

 Linnasus in the same genus with the peach, of which it is, doubtless, the parent, 

 as trees have been found with almonds in a state of transition to peaches. 

 They have been separated into two genera, on account of certain technical dis- 

 tinctions in the fruit, which will probably be rejected, when, in consequence 

 of extended experience, and a better knowledge of physiology, a more en- 

 larged view shall be taken of the subject of establishing genera and species. 

 & 1. A. na v na L. The dwarf, or shrubby, Almond. 



Identification. Lin. Mant., 396. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 530. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 482. 



Synonymes. Prunus in^rmis Gmel. ; A. nana var. a. vulgaris Dec. ; Amandier nain Fr. ; Zwerche- 

 ' mandel, Ger. 

 Engravings. ? Pluk. Aim., t. 11. f. 3. ; Bot. Mag., t. 161. ; N. Du Ham., 4. t. 30.; and ourfigs. 394,395. 



Spec. Char., fyc. Leaves oblong-linear, tapered at the base, serrated, glabrous ; 

 flowers solitary, rose-coloured ; calyx cylindrically bell-shaped ; fruit of 

 the same shape as that of A. communis, but much smaller. Frequent in 

 Calmuck, and about Odessa. {Dec. Prod., ii. p. 530.) 

 Varieties. 



& A. n. 2 gedrgica Dec. A. georgica Desf. Arb., 2. p. 221. The Georgian dwarf Almond. — 

 It differs" from the species in having the lobes of the calyx lanceolate, and as long as its 

 tube ; and the styles only tomentose at the base, being scarcely so there, and not protruded. 

 A native of Georgia, which has been cultivated in the Geneva Botanic Garden. 



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