94 
WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND TREES. 
upon its short stalk ; black, but its blackness hidden by a 
delicate “ bloom ” that gives it a purplish glaucous hue. 
Terribly harsh are these fruits to the palate, and a mere bite 
at an unripe one is sufficient to set teeth on edge and contract the 
muscles of mouth and face. And yet, when the tight jacket of 
the Sloe begins to relax and pucker, the juice condenses into 
more mealy flesh, and the acridity passes, one may eat not 
one but a dozen, slowly, enjoying the piquancy of each before 
swallowing. Country people make them into wine, and it used 
to be said that much that is sold as port had its origin in the 
skins of British sloes instead of Portuguese grapes. And for 
special use “ for the stomach’s sake ” old-wife followers of St. 
Paul pin their faith to gin in which Sloes have soaked for 
months. 
In the days of our youth it was a stock jibe against the grocer 
that most of his China tea had been grown on Blackthorn 
bushes not far from home, and with tea at five or six shillings a 
pound there may have been some basis of truth for the belief ; 
but with the prices of to-day it may be presumed that Black- 
thorn leaves would cost the dealer at least as much as real tea- 
leaves from Assam and Darjeeling. 
The Bullace {Prtmus conununis, sub-sp. msititid) differs 
from the Sloe in having brown bark, the branches straight and 
only a few of them ending in spines, the leaves larger, broader, 
more coarsely toothed, and downy on the underside. The 
flowers, too, have broader petals, and the fruit— which may be 
black or yellow — droops, and is between three-quarters and one 
inch in diameter. In many places where this grows it can only 
be regarded as an escape from cultivation. 
The Wild Plum {Prunus comvmnis, sub-sp. domest/ca) has 
also brown bark, its branches straight, and not ending in spines. 
The downiness noticed on the underside of the Bullace leaves 
is here restricted to the ribs of the leaf. The fruit attains a 
diameter of an inch or an inch and a half. Although found 
