531 
and such like trifling toys, which they send into England smeared over with some odd sweet com¬ 
pound or other, and here sold unto our curious ladies and gentlewomen for rare and strange Pome- 
ambers, for great sums of money ” 
Species 6. Cultivated Cherry Tree. (Prunus Cerasus.) 
T-he Common Cheriy-tree has ash-coloured, shining, roundish branches. Leaves petioled, ovate 
or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, unequally serrate, veined; the younger ones folded together flat and 
more or less pubescent underneath. Stipules toothed, glandular. Umbels leafless, few-flowered, 
nodding. Calyx reflex. Petals white. Drupe red, acid/* 
Leaves biglandular; leafing and flowering buds distinct, the former terminating, the latter from 
the side of the branches; stamens more than twenty-four or near thirty. It differs from the plum in 
having the stone nearly globular, with the kernel of the same shape.f 
Native of Asia and Europe. It derives the Greek names K e P u<rog and Kepeunu, the Latin Cerasus , 
and the modern names Cherry , Cerister , &c. from a town in Pontus called Cerasus, whence Lucullus 
is said to have introduced it into Italy, after he had subdued Mithridates. This however must be 
understood of the cultivated Cherry; for the tree in its wild state was in Europe antecedent to the 
time of Lucullus.J 
The Cherry loves a sandy soil and an elevated situation. The gum that exudes from it is equal 
to Gum Arabic. Hasselquist relates, that more than one hundred men, during a siege, were kept 
alive for near two months, without any other sustenance than a little of this gum taken sometimes 
into the mouth, and suffered gradually to dissolve. The wood is hard and tough, and used by the 
turner, and for making chairs, being stained to imitate mahogany. It is the original stock from 
which most of the cultivated sorts are derived. 
Mr. Miller’s list contains: 
1 . The common or Kentish Cherry, from which he says it is supposed most of the varieties cul¬ 
tivated in the English gardens have been raised; though he is very doubtful of it; the differences in 
/ 
the size and shape of their leaves, and in the shoots of the trees being very great. 
2. The early May Cherry, which is the first ripe, and therefore a place may be given it where 
there is room. 
3. The May Duke. This ripens next: it is a larger fruit, and more valuable. 
4. The Archduke comes after the May Duke, and if permitted to hang till it is ripe, is an excel¬ 
lent Cherry. It should not be gathered before Midsummer, and may hang a fortnight longer, even 
near London, where it ripens a fortnight sooner than in places forty miles distant. Against a north 
wall this fruit may be continued till August. 
5. The Flemish. 
6. The Red Heart. 
7 . The White Heart. 
8 . The Black Heart. 
9- The Amber Heart. 
10 . The Ox Heart. 
11 . The Lukeward. A good bearer, and a very good fruit, of a dark colour, and will do well 
in standards. 
* Smith. 
T Scop. & Haller. 
J Ray Hist. 
