6S4 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART III. 



dendron dauricum ; growing on the south sides of the mountains, while the 

 latter grows on the north sides. When both these plants are in flower, 

 Pallas observes, the north sides of the mountains appear of a purple 

 colour, and the south of a rose colour. (Fl. Boss., i. p. 13.) In British 

 gardens, the Siberian apricot forms a tree of nearly the same height as the 

 common apricot, of which it appears to us nothing more than a variety. 

 There is a specimen in the garden of the London Horticultural Society, 

 from which our figure was taken, and which, in 1835, had attained the 

 height of 12 ft. in 10 years. It is propagated by budding on the plum; 

 and plants may be obtained in some of the nurseries at the usual price of 

 worked trees ; viz. Is. 6d. for dwarfs, and 2s. 6d. for standards. 



¥ 4-. A. (v.) briganti v aca. Pers. The Briancon Apricot Tree. 



Identification. Pers. Syn., 2. p. 36. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 532. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 498. 

 Synom/tncs. Primus briganfiaca Jill. Dauph., 3. p. 535., Dec. Fl. 

 Fr., No. S78a, Lois, in N. Du Ham., 5. p. 185. 

 Fngraings. ,N. Du Ham., 5. t. 59. ; and our fig. 403. 



Spec. Char., $c. Leaves nearly heart-shaped, toothed 

 with numerous sharp subimbricate teeth. Flowers 

 in groups, almost sessile, scarcely protruded before 

 the leaves. {Dec. Prod., ii. p. 532.) A native of 

 Dauphine, which Seringe suggests to be the same 

 as A. sibirica, and which, very probably, is only ^;?^- 

 another variety of the common apricot. It grows 

 on|y in one locality in France, and in another in 

 Piedmont, where an oil called, commonly, in 

 France, huille de marmotte, has for a long time 

 been expressed from the seeds. In British gar- 

 dens, into which it was introduced in 1819, it 

 grows to the height of 14 ft. or 15 ft. in 10 or 

 12 years, flowering in March and April. 



Genus IV. 



n 



LSJ 



ML 



& 1 1 — ats. 



PRITNUS Tourn. The Plum. Lin. Syst. Icosandria Monogynia. 



Identification. Tourn. Inst, t. 358. ; Juss. Gen., 341. ; Dec. Fl. Fr., 4. p. 483. ; Prod., 2. p. 532. : Don's 



Mill., 2. p. 498. 

 Synonymes. Prunophora Neck. Elem., No. 719. ; Primus sp. of Lin. and others. 

 Derivation. Said to be a word of Asiatic origin ; the wild plant, according to Galen, being called 



proumnos in Asia. The Greek name for the plum is proune : it occurs in Theophrastus. 



Description, $c. The species are chiefly deciduous low trees or shrubs, 

 many of them spiny in a wild state ; natives of Europe, Asia, and North 

 America ; and generally thriving best on calcareous soils. 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. 

 The epidermis of the bark of the plum, as well as that of the cherry, and per- 

 haps that of some of the other genera of vimygdalese, is readily divisible trans- 

 versely, and may frequently be seen divided in this manner into rings on the 

 tree. Upwards of 30 species are enumerated in our Hortus Britannicus ; but 

 we question much if one half of them are not mere varieties. The prices of 

 most of the kinds, in British nurseries, are from Is. to Is. 6d. for dwarfs, 

 and 2s. 6d. for standards ; at Bollwyller, 1 franc for dwarfs, and 2 francs for 

 standards; and at New York, 37| cents for dwarfs, and 50 cents for 

 standards. 



*£ 1 . P. sriNo\sA L. The spiny Plum Tree, or common Sloe Thorn. 

 %ticn Lin. Bp, 68t ; Smith's Eng. Flora, 2. p. 357. J Dec. Prod., 2. p. 532.; Don's Mill., 2. 



/'. gylvestris Filth. Hist., ]>. Vii , flay Syn., p. 4f>2. , Blackthorn ; Prunier epineux, 

 ■ \<r, E'pina noire, Of Mfere-du-Boia, Fr. ; Schloadorn, or Schlen Pflanm, Ger. 



