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BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
rather than round. It has somewhat the flavour of a Damson, and it is almost always black ; though some 
persons suppose it to be only a variety of the Bullace, which is generally yellow. 
2. —THE SLOE, OR BLACKTHORN. (Prunus spinosa, Lin ) 
Engravings.— Eng Bot., t. 842 ; 2nd cd., t. 692 ; and our fig. I Specific Character —Flower-stalks solitary. Leaves lanceolate, 
1, in PI. 31. i smooth. Branches thorny at the end. ( Lindley .) 
Description, &c. —The Blackthorn is one of the commonest of English shrubs, and it grows wild in the 
hedges and thickets in every part of Great Britain. It is very ornamental, and its blossoms are generally the 
first that are seen in the hedges, as they appear long before the leaves. The shrub, when not in leaf, is not at 
all ornamental, as its branches are very crooked and spinous. The fruit is small, and very austere ; and its juice is 
said to be used to adulterate the inferior kinds of port-wine. The leaves are frequently mixed with the 
coarser kinds of black tea, to which they give a peculiarly rank and disagreeable flavour ; they are exceedingly 
astringent, and wdien taken in large quantities are said to be poisonous. 
Ilowitt says, in allusion to the early blossoming of the Sloe : — 
“ The April air is sharp and keen, 
No leaf has dared unfold, 
Yet thy white blossoms’ radiance sheen, 
Spring’s banner, I behold. 
Though all beside be dead and drear, 
Undauntedly thy flowers appear. 
“ Thou com’st the herald of a host 
Of blooms, which will not fail, 
When summer from the southern coast 
Shall call the nightingale. 
Yet early, fair, rejoicing tree, 
Sad are the thoughts inspir’d bv thee. 
“ All other trees are wont to wear 
First leaves—then flowers—and last 
Their burden of rich fruit to bear 
When summer’s pride is past. 
But thou, so prompt thy flowers to show, 
Bear’st but the harsh, unwelcome sloe.” 
Cowper also alludes to the harshness of the fruit, in his well-known lines :— 
“ * * * Or sloes austere, 
Hard fare !—but such as boyish appetite 
Disdains not.” 
If, however, the sloes are suffered to hang on the bush till they are mellowed by the frost, they are said to 
become sweet. The bush grows very slowly, and its wood is very hard and tough. 
3.— THE BTJLLACE. (Prunus insititia, Lin .) 
Engravings— Eng. Bot., t. 841 ; 2nd ed., t. 691. 
Specific Character. —Flower.stalks in pairs. Leaves lanceolate-ovate ; downy beneath. Branches thorny at the end. (Lindley.) 
Description, &c.— The Bullace grows in similar situations to the Sloe, but is much less common. It is a 
tree rather than a shrub, and by no means so crooked or so thorny as the Sloe. Its blossoms appear in April, 
generally about a fortnight or three weeks after those of the Sloe. Its fruit is much less austere, and, in fact, 
becomes sweet and somewhat mealy when ripe. It is of a waxen texture, and generally yellow; though it is 
said to be found occasionally black. The shape of the fruit is quite round ; and it sometimes grows to a 
considerable size. 
