BRITISH GENERA. 1. AMYGDALEÆ. Plum and Cherry tribe. Prunus. 2. SPIRÆIDÆ. Meadow-sweet tribe. Spiræa. 3. Geum. POTENTILLIDE. Cinquefoil and Bramble tribe. Dryas. Sibbaldia. 4. SANGUISORBEÆ. Burnet tribe. Alchemilla. Sanguisorba. Poterium. Agrimonia. 5. ROSEÆ. Rose tribe. Rosa. 6. POMEE. Apple tribe. Mespilus. Crataegus. Cotoneaster. Pyrus. ILLUSTRATIONS. 1. Amygdaleæ. Blackthorn, Sloe, Wild Plum. Prunus communis.-Flowers similar to those of the hawthorn, but appearing before the leaves, and attached nearer to the branches. Fruit consisting of one carpel, superior, fleshy, and covered with purple bloom. Petals soon falling off. April, May. "Fair pledges of a fruitful tree, Why do you fall so fast? Your date is not so past, But you may stay yet here awhile, To blush and gently smile, And go at last. "But you are lovely leaves, where we May read how soon things have Their end, though ne'er so brave; And after they have shown their pride, Into the grave." HERRICK. Cherry. Fruit without bloom. Wild cherry. P. avium.— Flowers in umbels. Bird cherry. P. padus.-Flowers in droop ing clusters. May. To this tribe belongs the cherry-laurel, P. laurocerasus, the leaves of which afford Prussic acid. This dangerous poison pervades the tribe, and requires caution in the use of its fruit, which, when cultivated, is highly agreeable, as the almond, peach, nectarine, &c. The blossom of the wild-cherry is extremely beautiful. "Look at these flowers, just peeping from their nest Of moss and leaves, so beautifully shy It may be that the sight as yet is new, More than the rose herself; and better far Than boughs with fruitage crown'd, the dazzling wreaths Which deck yon wilding cherry, white as snow SPIRIT OF THE WOODS. 2. Spiræidæ. Spirea. Fruit consisting of several one-celled, one-valved seed-vessels (follicles), not united with the tube of the calyx, Meadow-sweet. Queen of the Meadows. Spiræa ulmaria.—Leaves large, pinnated rather irregularly, white and downy beneath. Small white flowers, with very numerous stamens, upon an upright much-branched flower-stalk. Sweet-scented. Common in moist places. June, July. Drop-wort. S. filipendula.-Similar to the above, but smaller; and the leaves very much and delicately divided. In pastures. This beautiful little plant finds a place in the garden. July. Willow-leaved spiræa. S. salicifolia.—A shrub or bush, growing in mountainous situations, having small bunches of rose-coloured flowers. July. Some of the foreign species introduced into the shrubbery are very ornamental. 3. Potentillidæ. Fruit either numerous small nuts, or numerous small drupes (plums), upon a common receptacle. Avens. Herb Bennet. Geum urbanum. An upright plant, with leaves mostly in 3's. Small light-yellow flowers. Fruit numerous nuts, with the hardened styles, having a prickly appearance. Hedges, woods. May-August. Water-avens. G. rivale. Larger, and with drooping, dull I |