prun] 



l&fyz Erradurg tst 38atang. 



932 



poses, there is a small greenhouse shrub, 

 which bears in spring a profusion of double 

 white blossoms. This (P. sinensis) is de- 

 servedly a great favourite. [M. T. M.] 



The Apricot, P. Armeniaca, forms a tree 

 twenty to thirty feet high, with a round 

 head, heart-shaped or ovate glossy leaves, 

 and sessile flowers, with roundish white 

 petals, appearing before the leaves. The 

 fruit is roundish, pubescent, orange or 

 brownish-orange, with a more or less deep 

 orange-coloured flesh : the kernel in some 

 is bitter, as in the well-known variety 

 called Moorpark ; in others, like the Breda, 

 it is as sweet as a nut. The Apricot, some- 

 times considered as the type of a distinct 

 germs Armeniaca, obtained its name from 

 having been considered indigenous to Ar- 

 menia; but it also grows wild in the north 

 but more especially in the middle of that 

 chain (Pallas, Fl. Ross.) Reynier found it 

 in the oases of Upper Egypt, and Munby 

 in Algeria, both wild and cultivated ; but 

 Alph. Decandolle remarks that the trees in 

 these cases were probably naturalisations 

 from cultivated varieties. 



The Apricot was the Mela armeniaka of 

 the Greeks, the Malum armeniacum and the 

 Prcecocia of the Romans. It does not ap- 

 pear to have been known to the Greeks in 

 the time of Theophrastus.for according to 

 him the only tree which put forth its 

 flowers before the leaves was the almond; 

 therefore he could have known neither 

 the peach nor the apricot, for both of 

 them do so. Dioscorides, 300 years later, 

 in the beginning of the first century, men- 

 tions the Apricot under the name of Ar- 

 meniaca, ' and which the Romans call Pra- 

 cocia: Pliny, writing about the same time, 

 states that the Prcecocia ripens in summer, 

 and had been introduced into Italy about 

 thirty years. The modern Greeks named 

 the Apricot prichochchia and berichoch- 

 chia ; the Italians generally albicocca or 

 albicocco, according to Alph. Decandolle, 

 who observes that 'all these and other 

 modern names have certainly the appear- 

 ance of being derived from Armeniaca, 

 from Pro'cocia, or sometimes from Arbor 

 prcecox.' The French name Abricot, the Ger- 

 man Apricose, and our Apricot are doubt- 

 less corruptions of the classical appellation. 

 By our early authors'on Horticulture, it was 

 formerly written a-precoke, which is closer 

 to the original than our present name for 

 this fruit. The Apricot tree is said to have 

 been introduced from Italy into England 

 , in 1524, by Woolf, gardener to Henry VIII. 

 1 The varieties are somewhat numerous ; but 

 i those most worthy of cultivation may be 

 j comprised in a dozen sorts. These may 

 include the Large Early, Royal, Moor- 

 park, and Turkey for walls, and the Breda 

 for standards ; from which, although not 

 large, the fruit is rich and excellent for 

 the confectioner, forming, in the opinion 

 of many, the richest of all preserves. Its 

 kernels are sweet, as are likewise those of 

 the Musch-Musch, a variety grown in the 

 oases of Upper Egypt, where the fruit is 

 | dried and forms an article of commerce. 

 i Various sweet-kerneled varieties have also 



been obtained of late years from Syria; 

 and their kernels, like those of the Breda 

 or Amande Aveline, may be eaten like fil- 

 berts. 



The cultivated Plum-tree, P. domestica, 

 grows to the height of fifteen to twenty 

 feet, its branches generally spineless, but 

 by no means uniformly so ; therefore there 

 is no real distinction between this and 

 the P. insititia of some botanists. In P. 

 domestica the leaves are simple ovate or 

 lanceolate, alternate stipulate deciduous, 

 convolute when unfolding ; and the flowers 

 are solitary or in pairs, white, appearing 

 generally before the leaves. The fruit is 

 round oblong or obovate, fleshy, glabrous, 

 and covered with a glaucous bloom ; the 

 stone compressed, acute at both ends. 



The Plum is a native of the Caucasus 

 and Asia Minor, naturalised at least in 

 Greece, and in most temperate regions of 

 Europe. Thevarious common nameswhich 

 it anciently had indicate, says Alph. De- 

 candolle, that it had a very extended primi- 

 tive existence in Europe and in Western 

 Asia. The great majority of the Latin and 

 Germanic names are derived from proline 

 of the Greeks : the Sclavonian languages 

 have derived the name from quite a differ- 

 ent root: in Bohemia it is called Sliva, and 

 Slinmik in Russia; by the Tartars and 

 Turks, Erik and Uruk; the Celtic words 

 Eiran undEirin are employed by the Welsh, 

 and these are not very different from the 

 Turkish and Tartarian. The Greek name 

 knkktanelea appears to have left no trace 

 in modern languages. Cultivated varieties, 

 according to Pliny, were brought from 

 Syria into Greece, and thence into Italy. 

 ' Several varieties of the garden plum,' 

 says Professor Targioni, 'were introduced 

 from the East since the days of Cato, who 

 was born 232 years before the Christian 

 era. Such was, for instance, the Damson 

 or Damascene Plum, which came from 

 Damascus in Syria, and was very early cul- 

 tivated by the Romans. Muratori says that 

 the'ltalian name for the plum, Susine, was 

 derived from Susa, in Persia, whence it 

 had been introduced into Italy. But the 

 most ancient Latin name was Primus, and 

 with the Greeks Coccymela.' From all these 

 statements it may be certainly inferred 

 that the cultivated plum existed at a very 

 early period in Western Europe, where it 

 had sown itself abundantly, as it does at 

 the present day. Even in Britain seedling 

 plums are frequently met with in our 

 hedges, and occasionally some of them are 

 found worthy of cultivation. Formerly, 

 however, our finest varieties were intro- 

 duced from France and Italy, and among 

 them one the quality of which has not 

 been excelled— the well known Green Gage. 

 In France this is known by the name 

 of Reine Claude, from having been intro- 

 duced to that country by the queen of 

 Francis I. It was brought to this country 

 by one of the Gage family, after whom it 

 was called, the name by which it was ob- 

 tained from the Chartreuse at Paris having 

 been lost. This excellent variety occasion- 

 ally reproduces itself from the stone. Many 



