& 
ROSALS. . 449 
included the Apricot, Plum, and Cherry. They are known by 
their numerous stamens rising from the origin of a tubular calyx, 
and by their drupe-like fruit. 
The leaves and other parts of the NS 
plant yield hydrocyanic acid, _ 
which renders all the species 
more or less deleterious, although , 
the quantity of the poison is too <=> Ye 
minute to be injurious under | 
ordinary circumstances. ves 
The Almond (Amygdalus com- 
munis) may be taken as a type of 
the AmyepaLace®, which _be- 
long to the large class of Rosacea. 
This tree, indigenous to Africa, is 
now cultivated throughout the : 
Whole of Europe. Its branches Fig. 417. Blossom of the Peach. 
are elongated, of a clear, ve 
~ glossy green, and slightly glaucous; the leayes are alternate, 
lanceolate, and dentate like a saw. The flowers appear before 
the leaves ; they are large, solitary, and germinate on the whole 
length of the branch. A hollowed receptacle, in the shape of 
4 cup, bears upon its edges five sepals, five petals, and from fifteen 
to thirty stamens, sheltering a sessile unilocular ovary, containing 
two collateral anatropal ovules suspended at the summit of its 
single cavity. It is surmounted by a terminal style. The fruit 
8 a.compressed oblong drupe, with fibrous coriaceous dry flesh, 
mecompletely bivalved, opening irregularly. Its stone is rugose, 
creviced, and hard ; it generally encloses only a single ovule, by 
reason of the abortion of the others. 
There are two varieties of the Almond; the seeds of one are 
Sweet, of the other bitter. 
The Peach-tree (Amygdalus persica) only differs essentially 
from the Almond-tree in its fruit, the flesh of which is thick, 
fleshy, and succulent ; and in the structure of its stone, which is 
a furrowed with deep anfractuosities. This species, originally from 
Persia, presents three interesting varieties. In the two first the 
fruit. is downy, in the third glossy. The first variety has firm 
GG : 
