REHDER. — CHINESE SPECIES OF PYRUS. 229 



calyx lit receptaculum extus glaber; sepala e basi late triangulari- 

 lanceolata, denticulata, intus ad basin dense lanata; petala late 

 obovata v. late ovalia, circiter 12 mm. longa, basi subito brevissime 

 unguiculata, glabra, alba; stamina circiter 20, dimidiam partem 

 petalorum vix aequantia, antheris purpureis; styli 5, distincti, basi 

 pilosi, staminibus longioribus paullo breviores. Pomum ovoideum, 

 basi rotundatum impressum, apicem versus attenuatum calyce per- 

 sistente erecto vel incurvo coronatum, pedunculo gracili 2-4 cm. 

 longo insidens, flavum, punctatum, circiter 4-4.5 cm. longum et 

 3.5-4 cm. diam., sapore grato leviter adstringente; semina ovoideo- 

 oblonga, compressa, 9-10 mm. longa et 6 mm. lata, castanea, nitida. 



Cultivated in the Arnold Arboretum under No. 4033 (received from 

 Kew as P. Simoni), May 7 and 13, 1909, April 30, 1910, May 14, 

 1914, October 19, 1908, October 16, 1912 (type); Hort. Simon-Louis, 

 Plantieres near Metz, August 24, 1911, A. Rehder (as P. sinensis). 

 Probably also the following specimens belong to this species : Fokien : 

 Dunn's Exped. to Central Fokien, April to June, 1905 (Hongkong 

 Herb. No. 2595). Yunnan: Mengtze, cultivated, alt. 1500 m., 

 A. Henry (No. 11058). 



This species seems to be most closely related to P. tissuriensis 

 Maximowicz which differs chiefly in the broader orbicular-ovate or 

 ovate leaves, in the lighter colored branches, and in the short-stalked 

 subglobose fruit with the persistent sepals spreading. The shape of 

 the fruit of P. ovoidea is very unusual and quite distinct from any pear 

 I know; the fruit is exactly ovate, broad and rounded at the base and 

 tapering from the middle toward the truncate apex, as figured by 

 Schneider (1. c. fig. 364 d). This may, however, not be a specific 

 character and the shape of the fruit may vary in other specimens 

 referable to this species. The Chinese material which I have seen and 

 which might belong here is very meagre. The Fokien specimen is in 

 young fruit which suggests a more pyriform shape, though tapering 

 toward the apex and showing the same kind of persistent calyx; the 

 serration of the leaves is more minute and more accumbent. The 

 Yunnan specimen is in flower and differs somewhat in the more copious 

 tomentum of the leaves and of the inflorescence and in the shorter 

 nearly entire calyx-lobes. 



It is not known when and whence this species was introduced. 

 Possibly it was sent in the early sixties from northern China by G. E. 

 Simon, or by A. David a little later from the same region or from 

 Mongolia to the Museum in Paris and was afterwards distributed by 

 Decaisne. 



