Page:Floras Lexicon-1840.djvu/56



IRD-CHERRY. . Class 12,. Order:. The bird-cherry is indigenous in most parts of Europe; it even opens its fragile flowers to the nipping air of Russia and Siberia. It abounds in the northern counties of England, and is profusely scattered among the woods, and on the borders of the mountain torrents of Scotland. In these natural fastnesses, where it is more likely to escape the stroke of the axe, it often rises to the height of fifteen feet from a stem eighteen inches in diameter, and spreads its branches to a considerable distance.