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XVIII. Upon the Culture of the Prunus Pseudo-Cerasus t or 

 Chinese Cherry. By Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq, 

 F.R.S. $c. President. 



Read February 20, 1827. 



The Prunus Pseudo-Cerasus, or Chinese Cherry, has been 

 so recently* introduced into Europe, and has been hitherto 

 so little propagated, or cultivated, that probably not even its 

 name is known to the greater number of gardeners. It has 

 however properties and qualities, which will render it an 

 acquisition of considerable value; and I am perfectly con- 

 fident that it has not yet been seen, in this country, nearly 

 in the greatest state of excellence, which it is capable of 



• This Cherry was introduced from China by Mr. Samuel Brookes, of 

 Ball's Pond, in 1819, and he presented a plant of it in 1822, to the Horticultural 

 Society. It has since, in two instances, been imported from China by the Society, 

 through the assistance of Mr. Reeves. In the year 1824, it produced a crop 

 of fruit in one of the houses in the Chiswick Garden, which ripened within fifty 

 days from the time the blossoms opened. In that year, a figure of the plant in 

 flower was published by Mr. Bellekden Ker, in the Botanical Register, tab. 

 800, with the name of Prunus paniculata, under the impression that it was the 

 species so named by Thunberg. It received its present name of Prunus Pseudo- 

 Cerasus, from Mr. Lindlev, in his Report on the New and Rare Plants, (see 

 Horticultural Transactions, Vol. iv. page 90) which had flowered in the Garden 

 at Chiswick, previous to March, 1824. It is readily distinguished as a distinct 

 species from the Common Cherry and the Morello Cherry, by its bearing its 

 flowers in racemes, and by the peduncles being hairy. It is known in China by 

 the name of Yung Fo, but is only cultivated as an ornamental plant at Canton, 

 where it rarely produces fruit. 



