EOSE FAMILY. 



115 



they are ready enough to run after the rare fruit which some provident 

 neighbor may have taken the pains to cultivate. It is high time that 

 such disreputable negligence should cease, and that people should be 

 more attentive to duties which are enjoined by every consideration of 

 comfort and good taste — nay, even of sheer justice to those around them, 

 who are now annually plundered of the fruits of their own care and 

 labors. 



2. A. dastcar'pa, Pers. Leaves ovate or oval, somewhat acuminate, 

 doubly serrate ; flowers pedicellate. 

 Hairy-fkuited Aemeniaca. Black Apricot. 



stem 10-15 feet high; branches rather slender and virgate. Leaves \% to near 3 inches 

 long ; 2'^etioles about an inch long. Petals white. Drupe subglobose, hairy, dark purplish 

 color when mature. 



^ Cultivated. Native conntry unknown. Fl. April. Fr. July. 



Obs. This species has more of the habit of a Prunus, or Plum-tree, 

 than the preceding, and is reputed to be a more certain fruit-bearer ; 

 but I have not found it so. It flowers freely ; but the young fruit is 

 Eoou stung by an insect, and nearly all falls off before it is half grown. 



3. PEU'NUS, i. Plum and Cherry. 



* [The Latin name for the Plum.] 



Calyx 5-cleft. Petals 5, spreading. Stamens 15-30. Ovary with 2 

 pendulous ovules. Drupe fleshy ; stone smooth and even. Small trees 

 or shrubs. Flowers usually white. 



[The Plum and Cherry are in most works considered as distinct genera ; we follow Dr. 

 Gray and other recent authorities in arranging them as sections of the genus Prunus of 

 Linnaeus.] 



§1. Prunus, Town. (Plum.) Drupe usually with a bloom; the stone 

 flattened, or at least wider than thick ; leaves convolute in the bud ; flowers 

 more or less preceding the leaves, from lateral buds; the pedicels few or 

 several, in simple umbellate clusters. 



* Introduced or cultivated species. 

 1. P. spiNo'sA, L. Branches thorny ; leaves obovate oblong or ovate- 

 lanceolate, sharply serrate, at length glabrous ; pedicels glabrous ; fruit 

 small, globular, black with a bloom, the stone turgid acute on one edge. 

 Sloe. Black Thorn. 



Yar. insiti'tia. Less spiny, the lateral branches often ending in a thorn ; 

 pedicels and lower side of the leaves pubescent ; fruit round and black. 

 Bullace Plum. 

 Waste places. E. New England, &c. 



Yar. domes'tica. Branches unarmed ; leaves lance-ovate or oval, mostly 

 acute, serrate ; pedicels sub-solitary. 

 . Common Plum. Damascene, Gage, &c. 

 Fr. Prunier. Germ. Der Pflaumenbaum. Span. Ciruelo. 



Stew 8 - 12 or 15 feet high, branching. Leaves 1-3 inches long ; petioles half an inch to as 



