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Cerasus (Said to have been first)

(said to have been first brought from Cerasus, a town in Pontus, in Asia). Cherry. ORD. Rosaceoe. Hardy deciduous or evergreen shrubs and trees. Flowers white; pedicels one-flowered, rising before the leaves in fascicled umbels from scaly buds, but sometimes rising after the evolution of the leaves in racemes from the tops of the branches. Drupe globose or umbilicate at the base, fleshy, quite glabrous, destitute of bloom, containing a smooth, rather globose, compressed stone. Leaves, when young, conduplicate. By far the larger number of the species are deciduous, but two very important ones are evergreen, viz., the common Laurel (C. Laurocerasus), with its numerous varieties, and the Portugal Laurel (C. lusitanica). The various species and varieties are propagated by seeds, cuttings, grafting, or budding. The seeds should be sown in autumn, in beds, or they may be kept till spring. Cuttings should be bedded in a semi-shady position, in autumn, or not later than February, some sharp sand being added to the soil. For culture, &c., of the edible-fruited kinds, see Cherry.

C. Avium (birds'). Wild Cherry, or Gean. fl. rising with the leaves; bud oblong, acute, destitute of leafy scales. April and May. fr. roundish-ovate, depressed, black; flesh adhering to the stone, very succulent and sugary, the juice usually coloured. l. oval-lanceolate, pointed, serrated, somewhat pendent, slightly pubescent on the under side, and furnished with two glands at the base. h. 20ft. to 40ft. England. Deciduous.

C. A. multiplex (double-flowered).* fl. smaller than the type, ovate, bearing two or three glands at the base.

C. Caproniana.* Common Cherry. fl. rising with the leaves; calyx large, campanulate; peduncles usually thick, stiffish, not long. Spring. fr. globose, depressed, with the suture hardly depressed; flesh soft, more or less acid and styptic. l. oval-lanceolate, toothed, glabrous. h. 15ft. to 20ft. Europe. Small tree, with spreading branches. Of this deciduous species, innumerable varieties have been raised. The most important of the fruit-bearing sorts will be found described under Cherry. The double-flowered variety (multiplex) is very showy, and useful for forcing and for shrubberies (SYN. C. ranunculiflora). (F. d. S. 1805.) C. caroliniana (Carolina).* fl. rather large; racemes axillary, dense, shorter than the leaves. May. fr. nearly globose, mucronate. l. evergreen, on short petioles, oblong-lanceolate, mucronate, smooth, rather coriaceous, almost entire. North America, 1759.

C. Chamaecerasus. Ground Cherry. fl. umbellate; umbels usually sessile; peduncles longer than the leaves when in fruit. May. fr. round, reddish-purple, very acid. l. obovate, shining, crenated, bluntish, quite glabrous, rather coriaceous, hardly glandular. h. 2ft. to 4ft. Europe, 1597.