Here again we have a very evident hybrid between some Sweet Cherry and a
Sour Cherry of the Morello type in which Morello characters are most
prominent. If the description and color-plates of this variety and
Olivet be compared it will be found that the two cherries are nearly
identical. They differ only in season of ripening and in minor
tree-characters which may be best summarized by the statement that this
cherry has in the tree more of the aspect of a Morello than has Olivet.
It may be suspected that one or the other of the two varieties on our
grounds is misnamed but the descriptions of all who have described the
two show that they are very similar, if not identical. The history of
Louis Philippe, long known in America but little or not at all known in
Europe, throws some light on the question of its distinctness from
Olivet, the origin of which is known, inasmuch as Louis Philippe seems
to be the older of the two. The value of the two varieties to
cherry-growers is the same and is indicated in the discussion of Olivet.
Elliott,[82] the American pomologist, imported Louis Philippe from
France in 1846 but the cherry does not seem to have been known at that
time in Europe and it is possible that Elliott gave it its name. For the
first few years the variety was not given the recognition it deserved
but, in 1862, it was recognized by the American Pomological Society by a
place on its list of recommended fruits which it still holds under the
name, Philippe.
[Illustration: LOUIS PHILLIPE]
Tree vigorous, upright-spreading, open-topped; trunk and branches
intermediate in thickness; branches with numerous very large,
elongated, raised lenticels.
Leaves numerous, four and one-half inches long, two and one-eighth
inches wide, oval to obovate, thick, leathery; upper surface dark,
shiny green, smooth; lower surface olive-green, with a large,
prominent midrib; apex taper-pointed; margin finely serrate, with
reddish-brown glands; petiole one inch long, usually with one or
two large, globose, yellowish-red, glands, variable in position.
Flowers one and one-fourth inches across, white, well distributed,
mostly in threes; pedicels one inch long, thick, glabrous,
greenish; calyx-tube green, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes broad,
obtuse, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals slightly
obovate, entire, broad, slightly notched at the apex; stamens
one-fourth inch long; pistil glabrous, equal in length to the
stamens.
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