ROSE FAMILY 



143 



the sweet varieties of cultivated cherries. — Hedges ; less common. 

 — Fl. May. Perennial. 



6. P. Pddus (Bird Cherry).- — A handsome small tree; leaves 

 narrow, egg-shaped ; flowers in pendulous racemes ; fruit ovoid, 

 black, bitter. — In the north of England not uncommon in a wild 

 state, and common else- 

 where in shrubberies. 

 The clusters of flowers 

 and drupes are not un- 

 like those of the Portu- 

 gal Laurel, a nearly 

 allied species, but the 

 leaves are not evergreen. 

 — Fl. May. Perennial. 



2. Spir^a. — Herbs 

 or shrubs ; leaves scatter- 

 ed, generally stipulate ; 

 flowers numerous, small, 

 in cymes ; sepals 4 or 5, 

 persistent ; carpels 5 or 

 more ; ovules 2 or more 

 in each carpel ; fruit a 

 ring of follicles. (Name r 

 from the Greek speira, a J ^£^fc 

 coil.) ^C^ <^^2 



1 * S. salicifolia (Wil- 

 low-leaved Spiraea). — A 

 shrub with simple exsti- 

 pulate leaves and spike- 

 like clusters of rose- 

 coloured flowers. — 

 Moist woods in the 

 north and in Wales ; not 

 indigenous. — Fl. July, 

 August. Perennial. 



2. S. Ulmdria (Mea- 

 dow-sweet, Queen of the 

 Meadows). — -A tall, herbaceous plant, 2 — 4 feet high ; leaves 

 interruptedly pinnate, white and downy beneath, terminal leaflet 

 very large and lobed ; flowers in densely crowded, erect, compound * 

 cymes, creamy- white, very fragrant. — Moist places; common. — 

 Fl. June — August. Perennial. 



3. S. Filipendula (Dropwort). — A herb about a foot high, with 



SPIRy&A ULMARIA 



{Meadow-sweet, Queen of the Meadows). 



