THE DWARF CHERRY— continued. 
flowers in racemes, but with deciduous leaves ; and the true Cerasi, with deciduous 
leaves and their flowers either solitary or in “ fascicles ” or umbel-like clusters. All 
the seventy or eighty species of Primus belong essentially to Northern Temperate 
regions ; and our three British species of Cherry, Prunus Padus Linne, P. Avium Linne, 
and P. Cerasus Linne, belong entirely to the Old World. Despite Pliny’s statement 
that there were no Cherries in Italy before Lucullus brought them in triumph from 
Pontus after his victory over Mithradates about 68 b.c., but that “in less than a 
hundred and twenty years after, other lands had Cherries, even as far as Britain 
beyond the ocean,” it seems probable that these three species may be truly 
indigenous in this country. It is, however, certainly remarkable that for so 
conspicuously beautiful a group of trees almost all the common names should be, 
as they are, derivatives of the Kepatro?, Kerasos, of the Greek, the Latin Cerasus. 
Pliny derives this from Cerasonte, now Kereson on the Black Sea, near Trebizond ; 
and, no doubt, the Romans first introduced the cultivation of the tree as an orchard 
fruit into Britain, so that the Old English name Ceris haum is a Teutonised adoption 
from the Latin. 
It may be noted that there has been an unfortunate confusion in past times of 
the English and Latin forms of the name Bird Cherry and Prunus Avium^ which 
ought to, but do not, belong to one and the same species. The Bird Cherry is the 
small tree, Prunus Padus Linne, with pretty racemes of small blossoms ; whilst 
P. Avium Linne is the Gean, a tree sometimes reaching twenty, thirty, or more feet 
in height, growing in dry soil, in woods, with drooping, long-stalked leaves ; soft, 
limp, deeply notched petals ; and a firm, bitter fruit yielding but little juice, which, 
however, stains the hands. 
Coppiced specimens of this tree have often been mistaken for Prunus Cerasus 
Linne, which is usually a mere bush, with copious suckers, and is frequently known 
as the Dwarf Cherry. It has short-stalked, erect leaves, broader and with more wavy 
veins than P. Avium; firm, slightly notched petals ; and a round, red, juicy, acid fruit, 
the juice of which does not stain one’s hands. Whilst the Gean, from which the 
German Kirschwasser is distilled, is the probable origin of our Morelia Cherries, 
our sweet garden varieties are probably derived from P. Cerasus. 
The glistening brown-green leaves, coated with a film of gum as they open in 
early spring, the snowy clusters of bloom, the round, glossy crimson fruit, and the 
wonderful combinations of blood-red and clearest yellow that appear in the autumn 
foliage, combine to place the Wild Cherries among the most attractive of our 
woodland trees. 
