CHAP. XLII. 



ItDSA CE/E. PU RSH/^. 



721 



Soil, Situation, Sfc. A deep, free, dry soil, and a sheltered situation, are 

 essential to this species ; which, north of London, as already observed, will 

 be safest placed against a wall, or, probably, grafted on the Portugal laurel. 

 In the London nurseries, it is propagated from seeds ; and plants, of which 

 there are now (1836) abundance in the Fulham, Epsom, and Milford Nur- 

 series, are 1.9. 6<i. each. 



App. i. Other Species of Cerasus. 



In De Candolle's Prodromus, and in Don's Miller, two West Indian, and four South American, 

 species are described ; but only two of these (C. sphasrocarpa Lois., P. sphasrocarpa Swartz, Don's 

 Mill., ii. p. 516. ; and C. occidentalis Lots., and Don's Mill., ii. p. 516., P. occidentalis Swartz) have 

 been introduced into Britain. They are both considered hot-house plants, but might, probably, be 

 acclimatised. Rafinesque, under the article Primus, in his Medical Flora, vol. ii. p. 453., says that he 

 has prepared a monograph of 40 wild American ppecies of Primus ; under which genus, with Lin. 

 nseus, he includes both plums and cherries; only 25 of which, he says, are described by authors : 

 but we are not aware that any work of this description has been published. 



Sect. II. *SViR^E v iE. 

 Genus VI. 



ufcJ 



PU'RSHZ/i Dec. The Purshia. Lin. Syst. Icosandria Monogynia. 



Identification. Dec. in Trans, of Lin. Soc, 12. p. 157. ; Prod., 2. p. 541. : Lindl. in Bot. Reg., t. 1446. : 

 Don's Mill., 2. p. 517. 



Synonyme. Tigarea Ph. Fl. Amer. Sept., 1. p. 33., not of Aublet. 



Derivation. Frederick Pursh first characterised the only known species in his Flora America? Sep- 

 tentrionalis, and named it Tigclrea tridentata. The generic name, however, having been preoccu- 

 pied by Aublet, De Candolle has named the present genus after Pursh himself. 



. P. TRIDENTA V TA Dt 



The 3-toothed-/<°«t>6Y/ Purshia. 



Identification. Dec. in Lin. Trans., 12. p. 157. ; Prod., 2. p. 541. 



Synonyme. Tigclrea tridentata Ph. Fl. Amer. Sept., 1. p. 33. t. 15., not of Aublet. 



Engravings. Ph. Fl. Am. Sept., t. 15. ; Bot. Reg., t. 1446. ; and our figs. 424, 425. 



424 



Description, tyc A spreading subdecumbent shrub, scarcely exceeding 2 ft. 

 in height, with numerous branches, small whitish leaves, and rather many 



small yellow flowers, which begin to 



expand about the middle of May, 



and thence continue, successively, 



^to into June. The leaves are grouped, 



"V*/, wedge-shaped, and ending in 2 — 3 



teeth that are large for the size of 



the leaf, villose above, but covered 



beneath with a white tomentum. 



Buds scaly. Stipules none, or mi- 

 nute. (Dec. Prod., ii. p. 541., and 



amplified from observation.) A native of North America, 

 in pastures by the river Columbia. It was almost the only shrub to be seen 

 through an immense tract of barren sandy soil, from the head source of 

 the Missouri, to the Falls on the Columbia, and from 38° to 48° n. lat. 

 (Douglas, in Hook. Bor. Amer.) It was introduced in 1826. There are 

 plants of this species, in the garden of the London Horticultural Society, 

 about 2 ft. or 3 ft. high, which flower freely every year. They require a dry 

 light soil; and cuttings of the young wood will root in sand under a hand- 

 glass. Plants, in the London nurseries, not being much asked for, are 2s. 6d. 

 each. 



3 c 2 



425 



