The Sloe Tree.
Botanical name:
Prunus sylvestris.
The common low shrub in our hedges, which we call the blackthorn. It is a plum-tree in miniature. It grows five or six feet high; the trunk and branches are all covered with a dark purplish or blackish bark. The leaves are roundish, and of a good green, elegantly dentated about the edges. The flowers are small and white. The fruit is a little plum, of a very austere taste when unripe, but pleasant when mellow.
The juice expressed from unripe sloes, is a very good remedy for fluxes of the belly. It may be boiled down to a firm consistence, and will so keep the whole year. We used to find this dried juice kept by druggists under the name of German acacia, but they neglect it.
