Order I. 
ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
421 
7002 Lid hemispherical obtuse, Cal. angular, Umb. panicled terminal 
7003 Lid very long and cornute, Heads lateral solitary, Style persistent 3-4-fid at base. Leaves lin. lanceolate 
7004 Leaves lanceolate subfalcate acuminate subovate at base oblique netted with veins beneath 
7005 Leaves lanceol. unequal at base, on one side rounded with an incurved point, Branches axillary many-fi. 
700rf Leaves lanceolate with a long point at the base subovate oblique with parallel nerves beneath 
7007 Leaves lanceol. with a short point wavy with parallel nerves beneath and a marginal nerve on both sides 
7008 Leaves obi. unequal at base attenuated somewhat falcate with axillary 3-fl. peduncles and sessile flowers 
7009 Leaves lanceolate stalked, Pedunc. short axillary 6-12-flowered 
7010 Leaves amplexicaul. with a short point glaucous beneath 
7011 Leaves lane, attenuated with a filiform point netted with veins beneath 
7012 Leaves acute reticulated, the nerves united at the margin 
7013 Leaves falcate at end, those on the branchlets small clustered 
7014 Leaves linear narrowed at base obtuse veiny with nerves united on this side the edge 
7015 Leaves 6 lines long and 1| broad with the lateral parallel nerves united on this side the edge 
7016 Leaves stalked cordate obtuse with nerves downy beneath. Branches and peduncles strigose 
7017 Leaves amplexicaul. lanceolate with a long point glaucous beneath 
7018 Leaves linear. Stem shrubby 
7019 Leaves lanceolate. Stem arborescent 
7020 Leaves with al) the serratures acute. Flowers sessile solitary 
7021 Lower serratures of the leaves glandular. Flowers sessile in pairs 
7022 Leaves ovate attenuate at base simply and finely serrate 
7023 Leaves oblong lanceolate serrate downy beneath 
7024 Leaves lanceolate entire silvery perennial shorter than footstalk 
7025 Leaves lanceolate doubly serrated 
and Miscellaneous Particulars. 
both to the skin and stone ; and the brugnons, or nectarines, or cling-stone smooth peaches. Knight. {Hort. 
Trans, iii. 1.) 
The double-blossomed peach is one of the most ornamental of spring-flowering trees ; its blossoms appear 
about three weeks later than those of the common peach. 
A. communis and amara, and especially the former, are employed as ornamental trees in front of shrubberies, 
and in suburban gardens. In the south of France, Italy, Spain, and different parts of the Levant, they are culti- 
vated for their fruit. In France they have above a dozen species or varieties, besides a hybrid called the almond- 
peach. (See Duhamel.) The common and bitter almond are only to be distinguished by the taste of the kernels 
of their fruit. The Jordan almonds, which come from Malaga, are the best sweet almonds brought to England ; 
the bitter come chiefly from Magadore. The bitter cuticle of almonds is taken off by immersion in boiling 
water. The almond eaten as food is not very digestible, and requires to be well masticated. 
Robertson {Hort. Trans, iii. 382.) and various botanists consider the peach and almond as one species. 
Four distinguished and ingenious attempts have been made to class the varieties of peaches and nectarines 
by the leaf and flower as well as the fruit : the first is by Poiteau, in the Bon Jardinier ; the next by Count 
Lelieur, in his Pomone Frangaise; the third by Robertson, nurseryman, of Kilkenny, whose arrangement is 
founded on the glands of the leaves ; and the fourth, and most important, by Mr. George Lindley, in the fifth 
volume of the Horticultural Society's Transactions. The latter writer has, in a peculiarly distinct manner, 
arranged no fewer than 155 sorts of peaches and nectarines in well defined divisions or sections. 
The bitter almond contains less fixed oil, than the sweet almond, and a portion of prussic acid or 
hydrocyanic acid, upon which its narcotic power is supposed to depend. This variety is said to operate 
as a poison on dogs and some other animals, but not generally on the human species. The distilled water 
exerts an action not less deleterious than that of laurel water on the human frame. It produces \ertigo, 
head-ache, tinnitis aurium, dizziness of sight, and vomiting, when taken to the extent of thirty drops only ; 
and a drachm of it has killed a stout dog. When a large doze is taken, death almost instantly follows. In 
order to counteract its poisonous efl?ects recourse is had to diff'usibles, as brandy and ammonia ; or three or 
four spoonfuls of oil of turpentine may be given at intervals of half an hour. The fixed oil, which both varieties 
of the almond yield by expression in large quantity, is insipid and inodorous when heat has not been 
employed. 
Sweet almonds are used more as food than as medicine, but they afford little nourishment. Heartburn is 
said to be relieved by eating six or eight of them decorticated. When triturated with water, milky mixtures 
or emulsions are formed ; and they are also used in pharmacy for assisting, by trituration, the combination of 
substances, such as camphor and the resins with water. Bitter almonds are scarcely ever used medicinally. 
{London Dispensatory, 151.) 
A. nana and pumila are very ornamental shrubs, both in their double and single varieties. 
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