92 



SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



37638 to 37646 -Continued. 



37646. Pkunus maackii Ruprecht. Manchurian bird cherry. 



" This species of Primus, which is a native of the region around the 

 lower Amur River, is a tree which attains a height of 35 feet. The 

 young shoots have a glistening reddish brown bark, greatly resembling 

 that of the ordinary cherry, which breaks and peels away from the 

 branches in leafy flakes. The fruits of this species are black and about 

 half the size of those of Prunus padusJ' (Bui. Acad. Imp. Sciences, 

 St. Petershurg, vol. 15 (1857), p. 361.) 



" A Manchurian bird cherry, up to 40 feet or more high in a wild 

 state ; very distinct, through the bark of the trunk being smooth and of 

 a striking brownish yellow color and peeling like that of a birch ; young 

 wood downy. The leaves are ovate, rounded at the base, pointed, very 

 finely toothed ; 3 or 4 inches long, by about half as wide ; they are hairy 

 on the midrib and veins, and are rendered very distinct by being cov- 

 ered with glandular dots on the lower surface. Raceme 2 to 3 inches 

 long, springing from the previous season's wood ; calyx tube cylindrical, 

 bell shaped, the lobes glandular toothed; petals white, not so long as 

 the stamens. 



" Introduced to cultivation by way of St. Petersburg in 1910 ; the culti- 

 vated plants already show the distinct, smooth, yellowish trunk. It is 

 different from ordinary bird cherries in the racemes coming on the year- 

 old wood and from the laurels in being deciduous." (W. J. Bean, , Trees 

 and Shruhs Hardy in the British Isles, vol, 2, p. 241-242.) 



