126 



The Flora of Wiltshire. 



ORDER. ROSACEiE. (JTJSS. in part.) 

 Prunus, (Linn.) Plum. 

 Linn. CI. xii. Ord. i. 

 Name. Said to be a word of Asiatic origin, the wild plant ac- 

 cording to Galen being called Proumnos in Asia. The Greek name 

 for the Plum is proline" : it occurs in Theophrastus. 



1. P. spinosa (Linn.) Spiny Plum, Sloe-tree, Black-thorn. Engl. 

 Bot. t. 842. P. communis (Huds.) a. spinosa. Br. Flor.p. 116. 



Locality. In woods, thickets, hedges, pastures, borders of fields, 

 and by roadsides. Sh. Fl. March, April, May, Fr. September, 

 October. Area, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Distributed everywhere throughout the 

 county. A low spreading shrub difficult to distinguish from the 

 following. It is much smaller in all its parts, and the branches 

 are more crooked, and spinous. The fruit small, very austere, is 

 one of the many articles used to adulterate Port wine in England, 

 and the dried leaves though undoubtedly poisonous, often form a 

 large proportion of the low priced black teas. Sloes in many parts 

 of Wiltshire are called " Winterpricks." 



2. P. insititia (Linn.) grafted Plum, wild Bullace-tree. From 

 insero (insitum) to ingraft, the common stock for the purpose. Engl. 

 Bot. t. 841. P. communis (Huds.) /3. insititia. Br. Flor. p. 116. 



Locality. Woods, hedges and thickets, but less abundant than 

 the foregoing. Sh. Fl, April, May, Fr. August, September. Area, 

 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Ln all the Districts. A larger, taller and stouter 

 shrub than the last with a yellowish green coloured bark, and much 

 larger flowers that appear with the leaves. In P. spinosa, the 

 flowers are generally past before the leaves appear. Fruit globose, 

 dark blue, as large as a marble, with a fine bloom, much less austere 

 than the sloe, and excellent for tarts and puddings, for which they 

 are collected by the country people. Intermediate flowers are so 

 constantly occurring to the collecting botanist between P. insititia 

 and P. spinosa, that it is often difficult to assign a name to many 

 of them : it is more than probable they are mere varieties of the 

 same species. 



3. P. domestica (Linn.) Domestic Plum, Wild Plum Tree. Engl. 

 Bot. t. 1783. P. communis (Huds.) P. domestica, Br. Flor. p. 116. 



