PRUNUS.

PRUNUS AMYGDALUS (syn Amygdalus communis).—­Common Almond.  Barbary, 1548.  Whether by a suburban roadside, or even in the heart of the crowded city, the Almond seems quite at home, and is at once one of the loveliest and most welcome of early spring-flowering trees.  The flowers are rather small for the family, pale pink, and produced in great quantity before the leaves.  There are several distinct forms of the Almond, differing mainly in the colour of the flowers, one being pink, another red, while a third has double flowers.  P. Amygdalus macrocarpa (Large-fruited Almond) is by far the handsomest variety in cultivation, the flowers being large, often 3 inches in diameter, and white tinged with pink, particularly at the base of the petals.  The flowers, too, are produced earlier than those of any other Almond, while the tree is of stout growth and readily suited with both soil and site.

P. AMYGDALUS DULCIS (syn A. dulcis), Sweet Almond, of which there are three distinct varieties, P.A. dulcis purpurea, P.A. dulcis macrocarpa, and P.A. dulcis pendula, should be included in every collection of these handsome flowering plants.

P. AVIUM JULIANA (syn Cerasus Juliana).—­St. Julian’s Cherry.  South Europe.  This bears large flowers of a most beautiful and delicate blush tint.  P. Avium multiplex is a double form of the Wild Cherry, or Gean, with smaller leaves than the type.

P. BOISSIERII (syn Amygdalus Boissierii).—­Asia Minor, 1879.  This is a bushy shrub, with almost erect, long, and slender branches, and furnished with leaves an inch long, elliptic, and thick of texture.  Flowers pale flesh-coloured, and produced abundantly.  It is a very ornamental and distinct plant, and is sure, when better known, to attract a considerable amount of attention.

P. CERASIFERA (syn P. Myrobalana).—­Cherry, or Myrobalan Plum.  Native Country unknown.  A medium-sized tree, with an abundance of small white flowers, which are particularly attractive if they escape the early spring frosts.  It is of stout, branching habit, with a well-rounded head, and has of late years attracted a good deal of notice as a hedge plant.  P. cerasifera Pissardii, the purple-leaved Cherry plum, is a remarkable and handsome variety, in which the leaves are deep purple, thus rendering the plant one of the most distinct and ornamental-foliaged of the family.  It produces its white, blush-tinted flowers in May.  It was received by M.A.  Chatenay, of Sceau, from M. Pissard, director of the garden of His Majesty the Shah of Persia.  When it flowered it was figured in the Revue Horticole, 1881, p. 190.