[Illustration: _PRUNUS JAPONICA. (Syn. P. sinensis.)_]
-------------------+----------------+----------+--------------------------- | COUNTRY OR | COLOUR | NAME. | ORIGIN AND | AND | GENERAL REMARKS. | NATURAL ORDER. | SEASON. | -------------------+----------------+----------+--------------------------- | | | Prunus (the Plums) | | |There are several species | | |of Prunus, but those | | |mentioned are the most | | |important for gardens. The | | |Plums are best grown from | | |seeds, but if these cannot | | |be got then they must be | | |worked upon the Wild, | | |Mussel, and Myrobella or | | |Myrobalan Plum. Plum stocks | | |should be raised from seed. | | |If got from layers or | | |suckers they are liable to | | |throw up suckers from the | | |base, and ruin the plants | | |worked on them. | | | P. cerasifera |Uncertain, but |Small, |This is the well-known (P. mirobalana) |probably of |pure |Myrobalan Plum, and the |Caucasian origin|white; |seedlings are used as | |Spring |stocks. Its hardiness and | | |vigour in almost all soils | | |and climates make it a good | | |small shrub, and its white | | |flower-clusters are | | |delightful in early spring. | | |The fruits are popular on | | |the Continent, and are red | | |in colour. It is used as a | | |hedge in some places. There | | |are two varieties, viz., | | |angustifolia pendula, which | | |is half pendulous in | | |growth, and the well-known | | |atropurpurea, more often | | |called *P. Pissardi, which | | |is a native of Persia, and | | |has warm purple leaves, | | |which get darker with age. | | |The flowers are | | |rose-tinted. It is a good | | |shrub for colour, but must | | |not be too freely planted. | | | P. communis |The origin of |White; |The wild plum is mentioned (Wild Plum) |this plum is |April and |because a well-known tree, |uncertain; it is|March |but its varieties are more |stated in some | |beautiful. *Pruneauliana is |works to be a | |very handsome; its fruit is |native of | |the prune imported from |Britain, Europe,| |abroad. It is of upright |and a part of | |growth, with downy leaves, |Asia | |and large, pure white | | |flowers. *P. fl. pl. is | | |extremely handsome; it has | | |double flowers. The wild | | |plum is the same as P. | | |domestica. | | | *P. divaricata |Wide |White; |This is one of the most |distribution |April or |beautiful of the Plums, |from Macedonia |late March|but rarely seen. A fine |Caucasus and |in a mild |example of it is now in |Persia. |season |the rock garden at Kew, |Introduced in | |and when the weather is |1822 | |mild before March is out, | | |this spreading tree is | | |enveloped in snowy-white | | |flowers. But unfortunately | | |its flowers are sometimes | | |spoilt by late frosts. The | | |growth is slender, twiggy, | | |and dark in colour. | | | P. spinosa (the |Britain, and |White |The Sloe or Blackthorn of Sloe) |Europe, North | |the English hedgerow is |Asia, &c. | |familiar, but the variety | | |*flore-pleno is a good | | |garden shrub; its spreading | | |Spring shoots are covered | | |in April with double white | | |flowers, each like a little | | |rosette, and longer lasting | | |than the Sloe of the | | |English lane. It is as yet | | |rare in British gardens. | | |This should be worked on | | |the type. | | | The Cherries | | |A beautiful group of (Cerasus group) | | |flowering trees. They are | | |propagated by seeds or by | | |grafting them on stocks of | | |the Gean (P. Avium), but | | |never resort to this | | |practice if possible to | | |avoid it. The small-growing | | |cherries, P. humilis, P. | | |Jacquemontii, P. japonica, | | |P. prostrata, and P. | | |pumila, must be increased | | |by layers; the Gean stock | | |kills them. | | | P. acida |Europe |White; |P. acida would be little | |April |heard of if it were not for | | |its variety, P. a. | | |semperflorens, (the All | | |Saints' Cherry), which | | |blooms twice or thrice in a | | |season, indeed, keeps up a | | |scattered succession from | | |May to September. The first | | |display of flowers takes | | |place in April, and in | | |about two months afterwards | | |it blooms again. The fruits | | |are very abundant, and are | | |scarlet in colour. There | | |are several other | | |varieties, but not of much | | |consequence. | | | P. Avium (the |Europe, and a |Pure |The Wild Cherry is pretty, Gean or Wild |woodland tree |white; |and it is interesting as Cherry) |in many parts |April and |the parent of the fruiting |of these Isles |May |cherries, but neither this | | |species nor its varieties, | | |decumana, white, the | | |cut-leaved laciniata, or | | |the weeping pendula, can | | |approach the beauty of the | | |*double white | | |(flore-pleno), which is one | | |of the loveliest of all | | |flowering trees.