. Field and woodland plants. cemes ; and the fruit is oval, almostblack, and bitter. Another wildcherry, generally-known as the Gean{P. Avium), is stilllarger, sometimesreaching a height ofthiity feet, and isnot uncommon inwoods and bark is smooth ;the leaves abruptlypointed, soft, droop-ing, and downy be-neath; and thebeautiful whiteflowers are in almostsessile umbels. Thecalyx-tube of thisspecies is contractedat the mouth, andthe fruit is either redor black, heart-shaped, and leaves turn to adeep red colom- inthe autumn. Among theearliest flowers ofSpring are the whiteb
. Field and woodland plants. cemes ; and the fruit is oval, almostblack, and bitter. Another wildcherry, generally-known as the Gean{P. Avium), is stilllarger, sometimesreaching a height ofthiity feet, and isnot uncommon inwoods and bark is smooth ;the leaves abruptlypointed, soft, droop-ing, and downy be-neath; and thebeautiful whiteflowers are in almostsessile umbels. Thecalyx-tube of thisspecies is contractedat the mouth, andthe fruit is either redor black, heart-shaped, and leaves turn to adeep red colom- inthe autumn. Among theearliest flowers ofSpring are the whiteblossoms of the Sloeor Blackthorn (Pru- nus spinosa), which appear in March and April, some time beforethe leaves. The shrub grows from four to eight feet high, has ablackish bark, and numerous branches, the smallest of which ter-minate in hard, rigid thorns. The leaves are ovate, finely-toothed,smooth, stalked, with small, free stipules. The flowers are small,shortly-stalked, with a free, deciduous calyx of five lobes ; five. The wild Cherry. G6 FIELD AND WOODLAND PLANTS spreading petals ; from fifteen to twenty stamens ; and an ovarywhich ripens to an almost black, juicy, acrid drupe, about half aninch in diameter, containing a hard stone, and covered with a bluLshbloom. This slirub is very common in thickets and hedgerows. The Bullace {Prunus insititia), sometimes regarded as a varietyof P. spinosa, is a very similar bush, growing in similar situations,and flowering at the same time ; but its bark is brown, and thebranches less spiny. Its leaves, also, are downy beneath ; andthe flowers, which appear at the same time as the leaves, are inpairs, on downy stalks. The fruit is about double the size of thatof the last species, either dark or yellow in colour, less acrid, anddrooping. The above two species are the origins of the damsons and plumsof our fruit gardens. The May or Hawthorn {Cratoegus Oxyncantha) is so well knownthat there would be no necessity to describe it, were it
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