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which kind is itself nothing more than an improved or fleshy almond; the almond being to the peach and nectarine what the crab is to the apple, and the sloe to the plum. To prove that the peach and the nectarine are essentially the same species, we may mention that fruits of both have been found on the same branch; and a fruit has been even discovered with the smooth surface of the nectarine on one side, and the downy skin of the peach on the other side. (See Gard. Mag., vol. i. p. 471., vol. iv. p. 53., and our fig. 396.)

1. P. VULGARIS Mill. The common Peach Tree.

Identification. Mill. Dict., No. 1.; Dec. Fl. Fr., 4. p. 487.; Prod., 2. p. 531.; Don's Mill., 2. p. 483. Synonymes. Amygdalus Pérsica Lin. Sp., 677., Lam. Dict., 1. p. 99. No. 1-20. and 28-42., Noisette Jard. Fruit., No. 1-16. 22-35.; Pêche duveteuse, Fr.; Pfirsche, Ger.

Engravings. N. Du Ham., 1.2-8.; Nois. Jard. Fruit. Icon. ; and the plate of this tree in our Second Volume.

Varieties.

P. v. 1, the freestone common Peach, has the flesh of the fruit parting from the shell of the nut (the stone). Pêche, Fr.

P. v. 2, the clingstone common Peach, has the flesh of the fruit adhering to the shell of the nut (the stone). Pavie, Fr.

P. v. 3 flore pleno Hort. The double-flowering common Peach.

P. v. 4 álba Lindl. The white-flowering common Peach, Bot. Reg., t. 1586. "The white-blossomed

peach is a hardy ornamental shrub,
with the habit of an almond.
Its
fruit has little merit." (Lindley.)
The flowers of this variety being
produced as early as those of the
common peach, their different co-
lour will contribute to the variety
of the shrubbery.

Y P. v. 5 foliis variegàtis Hort. The
variegated-leaved Peach Tree.
P. v. 6 compréssa Hort., the flat Peach
of China, (Hort. Trans., iv. t. 19.
and our fig. 397.) is chiefly remark-
able for the form of its fruit, and

for being nearly evergreen in its leaves.

397

[graphic]

In the Horticultural So

ciety's Garden, against a wall, it keeps growing throughout the winter, when the weather is not too severe. (Encyc. of Gard., ed. 1835, p. 908.)

12. P. (v.) LEVIS Dec. The smooth-skinned Peach, or Nectarine Tree. Identification. Dec. Fl. Fr., 4. p. 487.

Synonymes. Amygdalus Pérsica Lam. Dict., 1. p. 100. No. 21-27.; A. Pérsica Nectarina Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. 2. vol. 3. p. 194., Nois. Jard. Fruit., p. 89-90. No. 17-22.; Pêche lisse, Brugnon, Fr. Engravings. Nois. Jard. Fruit., t. 20. f. 2, 3., t. 21. f. 3, 4.

Varieties. There are two forms of this kind,

P. (v.) l. 1, the freestone Nectarine, with the fruit parting from the nut.
Pêche lisse, Fr.

P. (v.) l. 2, the clingstone Nectarine, with the flesh adhering to the
nut. Brugnon, Fr.

Description, &c. The different varieties of peach and nectarine, when treated as standard trees in the open garden, assume the general form and character of the almond; but, as they are more delicate, in consequence of being farther removed from their aboriginal state, they are of slower growth, form trees of less size, and are of shorter duration. The nectarine, as a standard in the open garden, forms a smaller and more delicate tree than the peach; and the doubleflowered peach is of less vigorous growth than most of the single-flowered varieties.

Geography, History, &c. The peach is generally considered to be a native of Persia, in which country it is common, both wild and in a state of culti

vation; and where, according to Royle, both the free and clingstone varieties are known; the former being called kulloo, and the latter kardee. The tree is found wild in different parts of the Himalayas, at elevations of 5000 ft. and 6000 ft. In the district of Bissehur there is a distinct kind, called bhemee by the natives (Pérsica salígna Royle), which, though small, is juicy and very sweet. The nectarine is found in gardens in Northern India, where it is called shuftaloo, and moondla (smooth) aroo (peach), though it does not perfectly ripen its fruit, nor is it known whence it was introduced, though, probably, from Caubul. (Royle Illust., p. 204.) The Romans received the peach from Persia, during the reign of the Emperor Claudius. It is mentioned in the writings of Columella; and several sorts are described by Pliny. It was in cultivation in England about the middle of the 16th century; but, in all probability, was first introduced when the Romans had possession of the country. It is now in general cultivation as a fruit tree, against walls, in the middle and north of Europe; as a standard tree, in fields and gardens, in Italy, Spain, and the north of Africa, and in various countries of the East, including Persia, India, and China. It was carried to North America by the first European settlers, probably at the end of the 16th, or the beginning of the 17th, century; and it is now cultivated there, in extensive plantations, for the distillation of peach brandy, and for fattening hogs. These plantations grow with such luxuriance, that the orchards almost resemble forests. The nuts are sown, and no other care is bestowed on the plants than that of removing the larger weeds for a year or two. In four years they commence bearing, and continue to grow and to produce fruit for 20 or 30 years. In South America, the peach has been generally introduced by the Spaniards; and Sir Francis Head, in his Rough Notes, mentions the beauty of the trees among the corn fields of Mendoza.

Properties and Uses. The fruit-bearing varieties are cultivated entirely for their fruit; and those with double flowers, and variegated leaves, as ornamental objects in shrubberies For this last purpose, what has been stated relatively to the almond will apply to the peach and nectarine; and for their culture as fruit trees, we refer to our Encyclopædia of Gardening. Medicinally, and in domestic economy, the fruit, leaves, and flowers may be substituted for those of the almond. From the wood of the peach tree the colour called rose pink is procured. As an ornamental tree, the only varieties worth cultivating are, the Tunbridge peach, which will grow well as a standard; the double-flowered peach, which is extremely ornamental, and groups well with the double-flowered cherry and plum; and the variegatedleaved. The price of plants is the same as for the almond.

GENUS III.

ARMENIACA Tourn. THE APRICOT. Lin. Syst. Icosándria Monogynia. Identification. Tourn. Inst., t. 399.; Juss. Gen., 341.; Dec. Fl. Fr., 4. p. 485.; Prod., 2. p. 531.; Don's Mill., 2. p. 495.

Synonymes. Prùnus sp. of Lin. and others; Abricotier, Fr.; Aprikosenbaum, Ger. Derivation. The genus is named Armeniaca, from the apricot being originally from Armenia. The popular English name was originally præcocia, from the Arabic, berkoche; whence the Tuscan bacoche, or albicocco; and the English, abricot, or apricock, eventually corrupted into apricot. Some persons derive the name from præcox, from this fruit ripening sooner than most others.

Description, &c. A fruit tree, in general cultivation throughout the temperate regions of the globe, distinguished at first sight from the almond, peach, and nectarine, by its heart-shaped, smooth, shining leaves, and white flowers. There are several wild varieties, bearing flowers of different shades of pink, chiefly cultivated as ornamental. The great beauty of both the wild and the cultivated sorts of apricot is, that they come into bloom in Britain before almost every other tree; the Siberian apricot flowering a fortnight, or more, before the common sloe or almond.

1. A. VULGARIS Lam. The common Apricot Tree.

Identification. Lam. Dict., 1. p. 2.; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 532.; Don's Mill., 2. p. 495.
Synonyme. Prùnus Armenlaca Lin. Sp., 679.

Engravings. N. Du Ham., 1. t. 49.; and the plate in our Second Volume.

Spec. Char., &c. Flowers sessile. Leaves heart-shaped or ovate. A native of Armenia. (Dec. Prod., ii. p. 532.)

Varieties. There are two forms of this kind of apricot, either of which may be considered as the species; and two varieties:

A. v. 1 ovalifolia Ser. The oval-leaved common Apricot Tree. - Leaves
oval, fruit small. (Nois. Jard. Fruit, t. 1. f. 2., t. 2. f. 1, 2.; Lois. in
N. Du Ham., 5. t. 50.f 6.; and our fig. 398.) Synonymes: Abricot
Angoumois, A. précoce, A. blanc, Fr.

A. v. 2 cordifolia Ser. The heart-shaped-leaved common Apricot Tree. Leaves heart-shaped, broad. Fruit larger. (Nois. Jard. Fruit., t. 1. f. 3., t. 2. f. 3.; Loisel. in N. Du Ham., 5. p. 167. t. 49.; and our fig. 399.) YA. v. 3 fòlis variegatis Hort. The variegated-leaved common Apricot. A. v. 4 flore pleno Hort. The double-blossomed common Apricot.-Grossier says that the Chinese have a great many varieties of doubleblossomed apricots, which they plant on little mounts.

Description, &c. A tree, growing rapidly to the height of 20 ft. or 30 ft., with a handsome, spreading, somewhat orbiculate head, and branches fur

398

nished with numerous

buds, and clothed
with large, heart-shap-
ed, smooth, shining
leaves. The flowers
are white, and, appear-
ing before the leaves,
generally in March,
are very ornamental
at that season, when
few trees are in flower
except the almond

399

[graphic]

and the sloe. It is a native of Armenia, Caucasus, the Himalayas, China, and Japan, where it forms a large spreading tree. Both in Caucasus and China, it is more frequent on mountains than on plains, which affords a proof of its great hardiness; though in England it seldom ripens it fruit except when trained against a wall. The tree was cultivated by the Romans, and is described by Pliny and Dioscorides; and, though the first notice of its being in England is in Turner's Herbal, printed in 1562, yet there can be no doubt that it was introduced by the Roman generals. It is now in as universal cultivation for a fruit tree as the peach; and it is better deserving of a place in the shrubbery than that tree, on account of its more vigorous growth, and its much handsomer general shape, independently of its more beautiful leaves. Very few trees attain the appearance of maturity so soon as the apricot; a standard 10 or 12 years planted, in good loamy rich soil, will grow to the height of 20 ft., with a head 25 ft. in diameter, presenting all the appearance of a tree of 20 or 30 years' growth, or of a tree arrived at maturity. Hence the value of this tree in planting small places, which it is desired to make appear large and old. The same remark will apply to most other kinds of fruit trees treated as standards, and to different kinds of Cratæ gus, and all the wild varieties of the rosaceous fruit trees. The grounds of a small villa, planted with such trees alone, would assume quite a different character from those in which such trees were intermixed with rapid-growing sorts. In the former case, there would be unity of expression; in the latter, nothing, viewed as a whole, but discordance of parts, however much beauty there might be in the trees taken individually. Proofs of the rapid growth of the apricot may be seen in the standard apricot trees in the London Horticultural Society's

Garden. The best variety for producing fruit, as a standard, is the Breda apricot. (Encyc. of Gard., ed. 1835, p. 918.) It is also a very handsomegrowing plant, and its blossom buds, before they are expanded, are of a most beautiful and brilliant scarlet. There is a blotched-leaved variety of this kind of apricot. Price of plants the same as of those of the almond.

2. A. DASYCARPA Pers. The thick-fruited Apricot Tree. Identification. Pers. Syn., 2. p. 36.; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 582.; Don's Mill.. 2. p. 497.

Synonymes. A. atropurpurea Lois. in N. Du Ham., 5. p. 172.; Prùnus dasycarpa Ehrh. Beitr., 6. p. 90.; P. Armenlaca nigra Desf. Cat., ed 2. p. 206.; the black Apricot. Engravings. N. Du Ham., 5. t. 51. f. 1.; Lodd. Bot. Cab., t. 1250.; and our figs. 400, 401

Spec. Char., &c. Leaves ovate, acuminate, doubly

serrate. Petioles glanded. Flowers upon thread

shaped pedicels. In the flow-
ers of a plant in the Geneva
Botanic Garden, the calyx
was purple, and 6-lobed; the
petals were 6; and the sta-
mens 24. Native country not
known. (Dec. Prod., ii. p.
352.) A tree with a twisted

401

[graphic]

trunk, resembling the common apricot, but smaller. Introduced in 1800, and flowering in April. It merits cultivation for its flowers, which are generally white, but which, in this country, from the earliness of their appearance, are not often succeeded by fruit, unless the tree is planted against a wall, when it can be protected by netting. Trees of this kind are particularly desirable as standards among evergreens, planted on warm sandy declivities facing the south. They are also very desirable in the composition of spring-flowering hedges. Variety.

A. d. 2 persicifolia Lois. (N. Du Ham.,
5. p. 172. t. 52. f. 1.; and our fig. 402.)
Abricot noir à Feuilles de Pêcher,
Fr. The Peach-leaved thick-fruited
Apricot.-Leaves ovate and short,
or lanceolate, with small lobes. Flesh
of the fruit red, variegated with pale
yellow. In Don's Miller, this kind is
made a species. In the Nouveau Du
Hamel, it is stated to be a very slight
variety, which can only be continued
by budding.

402

[graphic]

3. A. (v.) SIBI RICA Pers. The Siberian Apricot Tree. Identification. Pers. Syn., 2. p 36.; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 532.; Don's Mill., 2. p. 498. Synonyme. Prùnus sibirica Lin. Sp., 679.

Engravings. Ammann Stirp. Ruth., 272. t. 29.; Pall. Fl. Ross., 1. t. 8. ; and our plate in Vol. II. Spec. Char., &c. Leaves ovate acuminate, of the form of those of the beech. The petioles long and glandless. Fruit small. A native of mountainous districts in the most remote parts of Siberia. Persoon has stated (Syn., ii. p. 36.) that it varies with leaves linear-lanceolate. (Dec. Prod., ii. p. 532.) A tree, having the general appearance of the common apricot, but smaller in its parts. According to Pallas, it is chiefly found in the Russian empire, on the mountains of Dahuria, growing upon the face of perpendicular rocks exposed to the sun. These low trees, in such situations, do not attain a greater height than that of a man; but they have trunks the thickness of the wrist, a rough and black bark, and hard wood. The Siberian apricot flowers in May, about the same time as the Rhodo

déndron däùricum; growing on the south sides of the mountains, while the latter grows on the north sides. When both these plants are in flower, Pallas observes, the north sides of the mountains appear of a purple colour, and the south of a rose colour. (Fl. Ross., i. p. 13.) In British gardens, the Siberian apricot forms a tree of nearly the same height as the common apricot, of which it appears to us nothing more than a variety. There is a specimen in the garden of the London Horticultural Society, from which our figure was taken, and which, in 1835, had attained the height of 12 ft. in 10 years. It is propagated by budding on the plum; and plants may be obtained in some of the nurseries at the usual price of worked trees; viz. 1s. 6d. for dwarfs, and 2s. 6d. for standards.

4. A. (V.) BRIGANTI ACA Pers. The Briançon Apricot Tree. Identification. Pers. Syn., 2. p. 36.; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 532.; Don's Mill, 2. p. 498. Synonymes. Prunus brigantiaca Vill. Dauph., S. p. 535., Dec. Fl. Fr., No. 3789., Lois. in N. Du Ham., 5. p. 185. Engraings. N. Du Ham., 5. t. 59.; and our fig. 403. Spec. Char., &c. Leaves nearly heart-shaped, toothed with numerous sharp subimbricate teeth. Flowers in groups, almost sessile, scarcely protruded before the leaves. (Dec. Prod., ii. p. 532.) A native of Dauphiné, which Seringe suggests to be the same as A. sibírica, and which, very probably, is only another variety of the common apricot. It grows only in one locality in France, and in another in Piedmont, where an oil called, commonly, in France, huille de marmotte, has for a long time been expressed from the seeds. In British gardens, into which it was introduced in 1819, it grows to the height of 14 ft. or 15 ft. in 10 or 12 years, flowering in March and April.

GENUS IV.

403

PRUNUS Tourn. THE PLUM. Lin. Syst. Icosándria Monogynia.

Identification. Tourn. Inst., t. 358.; Juss. Gen., 341.; Dec. Fl. Fr., 4. p. 483. ; Prod., 2. p. 532. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 498.

Synonymes. Prunóphora Neck. Elem., No. 719.; Prùnus sp. of Lin. and others.

Derivation. Said to be a word of Asiatic origin; the wild plant, according to Galen, being called proumnos in Asia. The Greek name for the plum is prouně : it occurs in Theophrastus.

Description, &c. The species are chiefly deciduous low trees or shrubs, many of them spiny in a wild state; natives of Europe, Asia, and North America; and generally thriving best on calcareous soils. Most of them bear edible fruits; and all of them have showy blossoms. In British gardens, they are chiefly propagated by grafting, but some of them by layers; and they will grow in any soil that is tolerably free, and not overcharged with moisture. The epidermis of the bark of the plum, as well as that of the cherry, and perhaps that of some of the other genera of Amygdàleæ, is readily divisible transversely, and may frequently be seen divided in this manner into rings on the tree. Upwards of 30 species are enumerated in our Hortus Britannicus; but we question much if one half of them are not mere varieties. The prices of most of the kinds, in British nurseries, are from 1s. to 1s. 6d. for dwarfs, and 2s. 6d. for standards; at Bollwyller, I franc for dwarfs, and 2 francs for standards; and at New York, 37 cents for dwarfs, and 50 cents for standards.

1. P. SPINO SA L. The spiny Plum Tree, or common Sloe Thorn. Identification. Lin. Sp. 681.; Smith's Eng. Flora, 2. p. 357.; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 532.; Don's Mill,, 2. p. 498. Synonymes. P. sylvestris Fuch. Hist., p. 404.; Ray Syn., p. 462., Blackthorn; Prunier épineux, Prunellier, E'pine noire, or Mère-du-Bois, Fr.; Schleadorn, or Schlen Pflaum, Ger.

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