ROSALS. ’ 451 
This fact leads to the supposition that it is not indigenous. 
The Prunus insititia is a shrub of from six to ten feet in height, 
sometimes with prickly spines. It is found in the same places 
as the last mentioned. 
The most esteemed varieties of the Plum appear to have come 
from the East, probably from Damascus. The number of the 
varieties is very considerable. Some havea round yellow fruit, 
as in the Mirabelle, or Golden Drop; in others the fruit is round, 
green, spotted with purple, like the Reine Claude; in others, 
again, it is oval and globular, bluish or violet coloured, like the 
Late Black Damson, Violet Damson, &c. In others it is nearly 
round, and the colour of wax, like the White Magnum Bonum. 
The flesh of this is sweet and scarcely sapid. A fine and delicate 
aroma places the others in the highest rank among fruits. 
The Cherry-tree (Prunus cerasus) furnishes a fruit (a drupe) 
with a smooth surface, without glaucous efflorescence. It is a 
rather tall tree, with straight cylindrical trunk, covered with a 
smooth and shiny bark. Its leaves are sharp, dentate, and strongly 
ovate. The white and precocious flowers of the Cherry form 
panicles. This species comprehends innumerable varieties, which 
_ It would be foreign to the object of this work to describe. 
The Black-heart Cherry is the fruit of the Late ~— (Prunus 
semperflorens), the flowers * ; 
The Wild Cherry-tree y 
(Prunus avium) gives fruit ; 
known under the name of £ > 
Wild Cherries, which is §  Sga\ 
used in the manufacture of 
a Cherry-water (Kirschwas- 
er) and of Ratafia. 
: ‘The Bigarreau Cherry- 
e is a species nearly 
2 sited to the preceding, and 
ishes large redor yellow 
7 heart-shaped fruit, the flesh ee ee Se 
a * which is with difficulty re from the stone. This is 
