Prunus

(proo'nus.) (Bot.) A gen. of plants, O. Dupraceæ, consisting of trees or shrubs, natives of temperate regions in both hemispheres. The flowers are in umbel like clusters, or sometimes solitary, produced before or after the leaves; and the margins of the young leaves are rolled inwards. The fruit is covered with mealy bloom or velvet-like down; the stem is pointed at one or both ends, and furrowed along the edge. P. spinosa is the Common Sloe or Black-thorn, a native of Europe, found in Pennsylvania in hedge-rows and cultivated grounds. The leaves are produced after the flowers, and the branches dark-purple in color, and terminated in a sharp spine. The Apricot, P. Arm eniac a, a native of Asia, much cultivated in European gardens for its fruit, forms a tree 20 to 30 feet high, with a round head, heart-shaped or ovate glo y leaves, and se ile flowers, with roundish white petals, appearing before the leaves. The fruit is roundish, pubescent, orange or brownish-orange, with a more or le deep orange-colored flesh; the kernel in some is bitter, as in the well-known variety called Moor-park; in others, like the Breda, it is as sweet as a nut. The cultivated Plum-tree, P. domestic a, a native of Asia Minor, grows to the height of 18 to12 feet, its white flowers appearing before the leaves. The fruit is round, oblong or obovate, fleshy, glabrous, and covered with a glaucous bloom; the stone compre ed, acute at both ends. There are many varieties in cultivation. Afew of the finest for de ert are the Green Gage, Purple Gage or Reine Claude Violette, Jefferson, Kirke's, RoyalHâtive, Washington, and Coe's Golden Drop. Many others, however, po e great excellence. Some are employed for making preserves, and others dried form the Prunes of the shops. The Prunes which come from Brignoles, in the south of France, are prepared from a variety called the Perdrigon. The neighborhood of Tours is celebrated for the quantity of Prunes which it furnishes. [s. 737]