THE ALMOND, 



83 



pecially suited to town gardens of small 

 size. In accordance with the latest rul- 

 ing the Almond is now grouped with 

 the Plum in the genus Prunus : — 



The Common Almond {Prunus Amygdalus 

 communis). — A low tree beautiful in flower, 

 reaching at length some 30 feet and picturesque 

 when old. Its flowers are borne with great 

 freedom and with fine colour effect, varying 

 from white to bright rose colour. Native of 

 North Africa. Its upper branches are thorny 

 in the wild tree. Used in the South of Europe 

 as a stock for grafting the better kinds. Having 

 been in cultivation from the 

 Varieties. earliest times there are many 

 forms of the Common Al- 

 mond, some of them coming fairly true from 

 seed while others need grafting. The common 

 sweet and bitter kinds may be raised from seed, 

 but their character is so uncertain that seedlings 

 of both sorts come in the same sowing. The 

 most distinct varieties are : — 



The Bitter Almond [P. A. c. amard). — 

 This form is not so free in growth but its habit 

 is more regular. Its flowers, too, are larger and 

 pale in colour, with a blotch of bright rose at 

 the base of the petals. 



The Sweet Almond {communis dulcis). — 

 A tree earlier in bloom than amara, with flowers 

 smaller and deeper in colour, and long leaves of 

 greyish-green. Its fruit is the Almond of com- 

 merce. 



The Double-Flowered Almond [communis 

 flore pleno) . — A form with large full flowers of 

 deep rose in the bud and when first expanded, 

 paling with exposure, but lasting long in 

 beauty. 



The Large-Fruited Almond [communis 

 macrocarpd). — A beautiful tree of good habit 

 and the earliest to flower, though for this reason 

 it rarely fruits. Its flowers measure 3 or more 

 inches across, with broad petals of pale rose, the 

 leaves and fruit are also larger than in the com- 

 mon kind. It does well in almost any soil, and, 

 being little injured by smoke or fog and of neat 

 erect habit suited to small plots of ground, is a 

 good tree for town gardens. 



The Almond-Peach [communis persicoides) . 

 — A strange form of the common almond 

 grown sparingly in southern Europe but rare 

 in English gardens. It is a cross between the 



Almond and Peach, though at one time held to 

 be a development of the Almond, marking a 

 stage of transition between it and the Peach, 

 with characters be- 

 longing to both. In 

 leaf it resembles the 

 Peach, and its fruits 

 show a more fleshy 

 coating than the Al- 

 mond. It is grown at 

 Kew as a flowering 

 shrub, and beside be- 

 ing handsome is very 

 early in flower. 



Among minor va- 

 rietiesof the Common 

 Almond are a pretty- 

 weeping form, as free 

 in flower as the erect 

 growers and useful for 

 small lawns ; an ear- 

 ly white kind, flower- 

 ing the first days of 

 March and very dis- 

 tinct in its stout rigid 

 growth, reaching a 

 large size at maturity, 

 scarce in gardens, but 

 growing as a fine tree 

 in Turner's Nurse- 

 ries at Slough. There 

 are also several varie- 

 gated sorts without 

 value and one of some 

 merit. This is a scarce 

 French shrub with 

 none of the weakness 

 so often associated 

 with variegation, but of free vigorous growth 

 and leaves boldly blotched with white, which 

 so far from injury gain brilliance by exposure. 



The Hoary Almond [P. A. incana). — A 

 shrub held by some botanists to be a form of the 

 Dwarf Almond, which it somewhat resembles 

 in growth. It is a pretty low bush, only 2 or 3 

 feet high, and a native of the Levant and Asia 

 Minor. It bears in April deeply coloured flowers 

 upon its slender spiral shoots, followed by nar- 

 row leaves covered with fine white hairs on 

 their under surface, from which the plant de- 

 rives its name. A handsome shrub but rarely 

 seen in English gardens. 



THE DWARF ALMOND. 



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