CHAP. XLII. 7iOSA v CE^E. PRU V NUS. 687 



gent. The flowers, with their calyxes, are moderately purgative. The fruit 

 has been considered a styptic from the time of Dioscorides. The juice ob- 

 tained from the unripe fruit, and thickened to dryness by a gentle heat, forms 

 the German acacia of the druggists, which was formerly sold under the name 

 of Egyptian acacia ; and which, Gerard says, it may be very well used in the 

 stead of, as an astringent in haemorrhages. The fruit of the sloe, though 

 so astringent when first ripe, ceases to be so, and becomes laxative, when it is 

 on the point of beginning to decay. In domestic economy, a very good pre- 

 serve is made of it. The bark has been used in tanning leather ; a decoction 

 of it in alkali dyes yellow ; and in sulphate of iron it forms a beautiful black 

 ink. In Britain, at the present time, the most valuable use of the sloe thorn 

 is for forming a protecting margin to ornamental plantations in parks, along 

 with the tTlex europae v a. (See p. 573.) A picturesque group of three or four 

 trees, and one sloe thorn planted in the same hole with one of the trees, will, 

 in a few years, give the whole group a wild character, by the suckers that the 

 sloe will throw up, and form an irregular, impervious, and natural-looking mass. 

 As flowering the first of all the plum tribe, the sloe is a most desirable plant 

 in shrubberies, more especially the double variety ; and, where it abounds in 

 thin woods, in which alone it will thrive, its stems and branches afford the 

 cheapest and best protection to newly planted single trees. For this purpose, 

 the lower ends of the thorn should be inserted in the soil, close by the root 

 of the tree, and the upper parts tied close round the stem, by two or more 

 willow withs, at 2 ft. or 3 ft. apart. No single tree fence is less unsightly, 

 because none is less obtrusive. The fruit and blossoms of the sloe have 

 furnished numerous poetical allusions for British song-writers ; and there are 

 but few popular ballads in the English language that do not contain some 

 reference to this plant. The sloe prefers a strong calcareous loam. It may 

 be propagated freely by suckers, or by seeds : the latter should be gathered in 

 October, when the fruit is dead ripe, mixed with sand, and turned over two or 

 three times in the course of the winter ; and, being sown in February, they 

 will come up in the month of May. The remaining treatment is mere routine. 



¥ 2. P. insiti'tia L. The engrafted Plum Tree, or Bullace Plum. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 680. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 532. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 498. 



Synonymes. P. sylvestris precox altior Tourn. ; P. sylvestris major Bay ; Prunier sauvage, Fr. ; 



Kirschen Pflaume, Ger. 

 Engravings. Eng. Bot., t. 841. ; Hayne Abbild., t. 65. ; and our plate in Vol. II. 



Spec. Char., tyc. Branches becoming spiny. Flowers in pairs. Leaves ovate 

 or lanceolate ; villose beneath, not flat. Fruit roundish. (Dec. Prod., ii. 

 p. 532.) Found wild in England, Germany, and the south of France, and 

 also in Barbary. Seringe suggests that this species may be a variety 

 of P. spinosa ; and, as we are of the same opinion, we shall pass it over, 

 only observing, that its fruit, which is globular, and usually black, is some- 

 times yellowish, or waxy, with a red tint, and sometimes red ; it is also so 

 much less austere than the sloe, as to make excellent pies and puddings, 

 and a very good preserve. Plants are to be procured in the nurseries. 

 The fruit of this plum is known, in Dauphine, under the name of alfatons; 

 and in Provence they are called prunes sibarelles, because it is impossible 

 to whistle after having eaten them, from their sourness. The wood, the 

 branches, the fruit, and the entire plant are used, throughout France, for the 

 same purposes as that of the sloe. 

 Varieties. 



¥ P. i. 1 fructu riigro Hort. The black-fruited, or common, Bullace. 



It P. i. 2 fructu luteo-dlbo Hort. The j/ellowish -white-fruited Bullace. 



¥ P. i. 3 fructu rubro Hort. The red-fruited Bullace. 



¥ P. i. 4 flore pleno Hort., the double-flowered Bullace, is mentioned 

 by Descemet in Mem. de la Russie Meridionale, 1. p. 63. 



*t 3. P. dome'stica L. The domestic cultivated Plum Tree. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 680. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 533. ; Don's Mill. 2. p. 499. 

 Syytoni/mes. P. satlva Fuchs and Ray ; Prunier domestique, Fr. ; gemeine Pflaume, Ger. 



3 A 



