Tas. 7430. 
PYRUS © stxxrmensis. 
Native of the Himalaya. 
Nat. Ord. Rosacrm.—Tribe Pomes. 
Genus Prrvs, Linn.; (Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. i. p. 626. 
Prrvs (Malus) sikkimensis ; arbor parva, ramulis novellis foliis subtus calyci- 
busque tomentosis demum glabratis, foliis ovatis v. ovato-lanceolatis 
acuminatis serrulatis, lamina petiolo pluries longiore, stipulis setaceis, 
corymbis multifloris, pedunculis elongatis gracilibus, alabastris roseis, 
calycis tubo ellipsoideo, sepalis lanceolatis reflexis deciduis, petalis orbi- 
cularibus v. late obovato-oblongis, ungue brevi villoso, staminibus 25-30, 
stylis glabris basi connatis, baccis parvis obeonico-pyriformibus. 
P. sikkimensis, Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. vol. ii. p. 373. 
P. baccata indica, Hort. 
There are in the Himalaya three species of the Malus 
group of Pyrus; 1, the apple, which is indigenous in the 
Western hills, as well as cultivated up to 11,500 ft. in 
Tibet ; 2, the Siberian Crab, P. baccata, Linn., differing 
from the common N. Asian plant only in the smaller sub- 
pyriform fruit, a form of fruit which occurs rarely in 
Siberia, but which is figured in Pallas Flora Rossica. It is 
found from Kashmir to Kumaon, sometimes in a cultivated 
state, and in Bhotan and the Khasia Hills, but has not 
been brought from Nepal or Sikkim; 3, the plant here 
figured, which differs from P. baccata in the tomentose 
under surface of the leaves and calyx, and glabrous column 
of styles. The fruit also is speckled with white, as in P. 
Pashia, which belongs to the Pyrus proper section of the 
genus, but the spots are much smaller in sikkimensis. 
The tree from which the specimens figured were obtained 
has existed in the Arboretum of the Royal Gardens for 
many years, and all traces of its history are lost. It is 
evidently a very old plant, in a gnarled condition, bearing 
conspicuous stout branching spurs on the trunk, owing no 
doubt to the poverty of the soil; and it may be assumed 
to have been raised from seeds sent by myself from Sikkim 
in 1849, now forty-five years ago, before which time no 
Aueust lst, 1895. 
