The Vegetable World: Being a History of Plants, with Their Botanical Descriptions and Peculiar Properties

The Domestic Plum is a fine branching tree, of from ten ie twenty feet in height, with spreading branches, elliptical, sharp, crenullate, and dentate leaves. Its flowers are of a white colour, and appear before the leaves. It is often met with in hedges and

on the borders of woods, but never in the interior of ooh.

This fact leads to the supposition that it is not indigenous. The Prunus insititia is a shrub of from six to ten feet in height, sometimes with prickly spines. It is found in the same places as the last mentioned. The most esteemed varieties of the Plum appear to have come from the East, probably from Damascus. The number of the

varieties is very considerable. Some havea round yellow fruit, as in the Mirabelle, or Golden Drop; in others the fruit is round,

green, spotted with purple, like the Reine Claude; in others, again, it is oval and globular, bluish or violet coloured, like the Late Black Damson, Violet Damson, &c. In others it is nearly round, and the colour of wax, like the White Magnum Bonum. The flesh of this is sweet and scarcely sapid. A fine and delicate aroma places the others in the highest rank among fruits.

The Cherry-tree (Prunus cerasus) furnishes a fruit (a drupe) with a smooth surface, without glaucous efflorescence. It is a rather tall tree, with straight cylindrical trunk, covered with a smooth and shiny bark. Its leaves are sharp, dentate, and strongly ovate. The white and precocious flowers of the Cherry form panicles. This species comprehends innumerable varieties, which _ It would be foreign to the object of this work to describe.

The Black-heart Cherry is the fruit of the Late ~— (Prunus semperflorens), the flowers *;

The Wild Cherry-tree y (Prunus avium) gives fruit; known under the name of Wild Cherries, which is § Sga\ used in the manufacture of a Cherry-water (Kirschwas-er) and of Ratafia. : ‘The Bigarreau Cherry-e is a species nearly 2 sited to the preceding, and ishes large redor yellow 7 heart-shaped fruit, the flesh ee ee Se a* which is with difficulty re from the stone. This is

reversed in the case of the fruit of the Guigne, a species very like it, and which supplies us with various fruits, known under the name of Red Guigne, Pentecost Cherry, &c. In the Pomacre#, which like Drupacee are usually treated as a sub-order of the natural family Fosacee, we have the Apples, Pears, Quinces, Medlars, and other fleshy fruits having the indefinite stamens inserted in a ring, in the throat of the calyx (Fig. 418); the flowers solitary, white or pink; the ovary adherent to the side of the calyx ¢ (Fig. 419), the sides of the calyx tube ¢¢ fleshy; the endocarp ¢ cartilaginous; _ the seeds s solitary. The Pomaces are found plentifully in N orth-ern Asia, Europe, and North America; they are rare in Mexico, unknown in Africa, except on theNorthern shore, and are el-tirely unknown in the Southern hemisphere. Malic acid is contained

Fig. 419.—Pome and Section of Pyrus malus, in considerable quai c, calyx; st, stamens; te, calyx-tube; pe, epi; Mm, mesova;%p; “al ° e, endocarp; 3, seed, and the Mountain Ash (Pyrus aucuparia); prussic acid occurs 11 the seeds of most of the species, and abundantly in some, Cotoneaster.

The Apple blossom has a calyx with five lobes; a corolla with five nearly orbicular spreading petals; and a large number of stamens. The ovary is inferior, and generally presents five cells, with two collateral ascending and anatropal ovules; it has five free styles slightly coherent at their base.

In the Pear (Pyrus communis) the fruit is nearly conical, not imbricated at its base; the flesh is sweet, and towards the heart presents stony grains. In the Apple (P. ma/us) the fruit is generally globular, always imbricate at the base, and not growing any thinner towards the peduncle; the endocarp is coriaceous and cartilaginous like that of the pear; the flesh is acid, and never stony. The Common Apple grows spontaneously in all European forests. Its rotund eyme is broader than it is high; its leaves are dentate, sharp-pointed ovals, more or less cottonous on their lower face; its large red or white flowers forma kind of cluster at the summit of the young branches. The Apple-tree is much modified by cultivation. From it we have the Pippins, Russets, Codlings, and many others. Malus acerba, a species nearly allied to the preceding, is commonly known under the name of the Cyder Apple; it is very common in forests; its culture takes the place of that of the vine in many parts of Brittany, Normandy, and Picardy. __ The Common Pear grows naturally in many forests of Europe; it is a tree with knotty branches, which attains from ten to twenty feet in height; its leaves, borne upon long petioles, are dentated _ ovals, without hairs. The flowers are white, and disposed in Corymbes. From the wild state, the fruit, like that of the Apple, is ameliorated and much varied by culture; from it we have the Butter-pears, Doyeunes, Bergamots, Saint Germain, Increvert, - Bon Chretien, Messire Jean, and hundreds of other varieties. the same group as the Pyrus tribe, that is to say, in the tribe Pomacee, is the Medlar (Mespilus germanica), the inferior ovary of _ Which (like that of all the other genera we have mentioned) has o five biovulate cells, with straight anatropal and colateral ovules, _ 4nd the fruit is crowned by five calycinal thongs, enclosing five bony shells. The genus Cydonia, or Quince, the five ovarious cells S of which enclose several ascending ovules, and the fruit of which _ Possesses a characteristic odour, and an acrid flavour; the genus Be: us, or Hawthorn; the Medlar of Japan (Eriobotrya Japo-

nica), which furnishes a yellow, melting, sweet and acid comestible fleshy fruit; and the Strawberry (/vagaria),—all belong to this order.: The SancuisorBE#, or Agrimonies, are slightly bitter aromatic herbs, common in hedgerows, sometimes employed in medicine for their astringent qualities, and also as a dye.

The Rosacex were formerly gathered into a single family, but they are now divided into several groups; the Rose, Bramble, and Meadow Sweet also belong to this group or tribe, at which we will glance successively. «

The Ross, properly so called, have a calyx formed of five - foliaceous thongs, which alternate with five petals; its perigynous stamens are numerous, and their filaments free, bearing anthers with two cells, which open from within by two longitudinal clefts; all these organs are inserted upon the upper edge of an oval or spherical receptacle, confined at the base. At the bottom of this receptacle, which resembles a bladder or small bottle, a large number of free pistils stand erect; the ovary is unilocular, with a single gnatropal ovule and an elongated style, surmounted by an obtuse stigmata; when arrived at maturity these pistils become achenes, which envelop the receptacle and become fleshy; * the seeds enclose a straight embryo, destitute of albumen. Roses are often supplied with prickles or spines, alternate leaves, having stipula adjoining the petiole, and beautiful terminal flowers, either solitary or in clusters, which have a sweet an¢ unequalled odour. The Rose long ago gained the sceptre for beauty over all the most beautiful flowers of our gardens and hedgerows. There are numerous species of the genus Rosa, from which innumerable varieties have been produced. We must content ourselves here with briefly describing a few well-known species. The Dog Rose (Rosa canina) is an indigenous species, common in our hedgerows and upon the borders of woods, the fruit of which is of a coral red, forming a yellowish acid and astringent pulp, enclosing seat number of hard hairy pips or seeds. The Red Rose (Rosa gallica) fe represented in Fig. 420, the leaves of which were formerly employed in medicine as astringents, and then designated under the name ih ie R. officinalis. The Red Rose was brought from Syria to France = oe

' 455 ROSALS.

in the times of the Crusades. The Rose with a hundred leaves (Rosa centifolia), whose admirable flowers are the ornament of our gardens, came originally from the Caucasus. The Damask Rose (Rosa Damascus) is called also the Rose of Four Seasons, and still preserves some stamens not changed into petals, the odour of which

Fig. 420.—Branch of the Red Rose (Rosa gallica). is very sweet, and which is used in the preparation of rose- _ Water. From the Musk Rose (itosa moschata), like the two Preceding species, a volatile oil is extracted, called Essence of awn. &o.

‘Teme oF BRAMBLES. File (Rubus) (Fig. 421), like the oc » have five sepals, five petals, and numerous stamens and. instead of being hollowed receptacle,. Pistils but in this case the outin the shape of a pte rises like a disc or cone, and upon

this the pistils are disposed. When at maturity these become changed into little drupes, grouped together upon a spongy and persistent receptacle. Bramble shrubs are sarmentose, and provided with prickles, with simple, alternate, digitated leaves, in threes, with stipules adhering to the petioles, and terminal or axillary f A, is) flowers, which are rarely solitary,

tf but are disposed in a panicle or corymb. We often meet with the Bramble, or properly speaking, the Rubus fruticosus, the Dewberry with its blue flower in (Rubus cesius), represented

Fig. 421, and the Raspberry plant (Rubus ideus). In the Strawberry the calyx o ye sepals is composed joined at the base, and furnished with five divi- with a calicule which are stamens, sions. The upon the are inserted numerous, in the shape edge of a receptacle

Fig. 421. The Dewberry (Rubus cesius). of a cup, which rises again at the base like the bottom of a bottle. The numerous unilocular pistils are inserted upon the lower part of the receptacle, surmounted by a lateral style. They are changed at the time of maturity into achenz, which, as we have already mentioned, are implanted upon the receptacle, and become fleshy and succulent. The Strawberry plants are long-lived, grassy perennials, with alternate trifoliated leaves, sometimes simple The Fragaria to the petioles.by abortion, with stipules adhering vesca furnishes several wild varieties known under the name of Wood Strawberries; Strawberries of all Months, Bush Stran-berries. The Fragaria chilensis is known under the name of the Pine Strawberry, the fruit of which is erect, rose-coloured, white within, and sometimes as large as a pigeon’s egg. The Mountain Strawberry (Fragaria collina) is not very common; its frait ” of destitute almost at the base, contracted red; ovoid,of a lively

—— carpels, and shiny in its lower parts; it is with difficulty detached from the bottom of the calyx. The Meadow Sweet (Spirea ulmaria), which, like the preceding genera, have a five parted calyx and corolla, and numerous stamens, generally also five pistils, rarely from three to twelve. They are sessile, at the bottom of a receptacle hollowed like a rather deep cup, and enclosing in,a single cavity two series of anatropal ovules, generally suspended. When at maturity these become folicles which open at the summit by two valves. Meadow Sweets are herbs, shrubs, or under-shrubs, with simple or composed alternate leaves, with stipules adhering to the petioles, aving axillary or terminal flowers, disposed in white or red bunches, in corymbs, panicles, or fasicles. The Dropwort (Spirea _jfilipendula) is frequently to be met with “in chalky places; its flowers white, in terminal corymbs. Spirea ulmaria (Queen of the Meadows) displays its corymbs of delicate white flowers at the edges of water, or in damp fields. Another species, the Spirea aruncus, is not common among British plants; the root was highly extolled in olden times as a tonic and febrifuge. These three species are perennial herbs. Amongst the ligneous species which belong to ornamental gardening, many have showy flowers, generally white or red. The name is derived from speirao, to become spiral, in allusion to the ease with which their flexible branches twist into garlands.