Pyrus communis, 

 THE COMMON PEAR-TREE. 



Synonymes. 



Pyrus communis, 



Poirier, 



Gemeiiie Birne, Bimenbaum, 



Pero, 



Pereira, 



Gruschka, 



Pear-tree, 



LiNN^us, Species Plantarum. 



De Candolle, Prodromus. 



Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, 



France. 



Germany. 



Italy and Spain. 



PoRTtJGAL. 



Russia. 



Britain and Anglo-America. 



Engravings. Lindley, Pomologia Britannica; Hoffy, Orchardiats' Companion; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, vi., pn. 

 '66, 167, et 16S; and the figures below. 



Specific Characters. Branches and buds glabrous. Leaves ovate, serrated, glabrous upon both surface^ 

 Flowers corymbose. De Candolle, Prodromus. 



Description. 



" The juicy pear 

 Lies in soft profusion scattered round. 

 A various sweetness swells the gentle race, 

 By nature's all-refining iiand prepared, 

 Of tempered sun and water, eartii and air, 

 In ever-clianging composition mixed." 



?^:^ HE Common 



^ H H M Pear-tree, in 



1)^ IJ ^ a wild state, 

 ^ has a pyra- 

 midal shaped head, with thorny- 

 branches, at first erect, and after- 

 wards pendulous or curved down- 

 wards. When cultivated under fa- 

 vourable circumstances, it will some- 

 times attain a height of fifty or sixty 

 feet, and a diameter of eighteen to thirty-six inches. The roots, which are not 

 numerous, descend perpendicularly, and have but few lateral ramifications, 

 except in shallow and rich soil. The leaves vary exceedingly in diftcrent soils, 

 and in different parts of the globe. In Britain, and in the temperate regions of 

 North America, they are generally green, slightly tomentose, and do not greatly 

 vary in size ; but in the woods of Poland, and in the vast steppes of Russia, those 

 of the wild pear-trees are commonly white with down, and vary so exceedingly 

 in their size and forms, as to include what are called the " willow-leaved," the 

 " sage-leaved," and the " narrow-leaved" varieties, which, by many, are regarded 

 as species. The blossoms of the pear, which are scentless, and of a pure white, 

 appear in the warmer parts of Britain, and in the southern counties of Ohio, by 

 the middle of April; in Sweden, and in Massachusetts, by the 20th of May; at 

 Perth Amboy, in New Jersey, the 10th of May, and at Naples, in Italy, six 

 weeks earlier. The fruit, in a wild state, is seldom more than a fourth part of 

 the size of the ordinary cultivated varieties: and is also austere and unfit to eat. 

 For a comparison of this fruit with the apple, the reader is referred to our descrip- 

 tion of the latter, under the head of " Pyrus mains," 



Varieties. De Candolle describes two forms of the wild species, comparative!} 



