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.


The Family Herbal, 1812, was written by John Hill.