Genus CYDONIA, Tourn. 



Dertvattons. The genus Cydonia is so called from Cydon, in Candia, its native place. It was formerly classified with lh 

 genera Pyrus and Sorbus, from the resemblance of its fruit to that of the service and the pear. 



Generic Characters. Fruit a pome. Carpels 5, each including many seeds. Testa mucilaginous. Calyx 

 5-parted, with leafy divisions. 



^HE genus Cycionia consists of low, deciduous trees or shrubs, 

 natives of Europe and Asia, which are easily propagated by lay- 

 ers, and by grafting on the common thorn. The species most 

 worthy of culture are the Cydonia vulgaris, hereafter described, 

 and the Cydonia japonica, commonly known by the name of 



Tijrus japonica. The latter is a shrub, native of China and 



Japan, growing to a height of five or six feet, and flowering a great part of the 

 year, more especially if supplied with water during the hottest months. It is one 

 of the most desirable deciduous shrubs in cultivation, whether as a bush in the 

 open lawn, trained against a wall, or treated as an ornamental hedge plant. It 

 has also been trained up with a single stem as a standard; and, in this charac- 

 ter, its pendent branches and numerous flowers, give it a rich and striking 

 appearance, particularly in early spring. It has ripened fruit in Europe and 

 America, both as a bush, and when trained against a wall; which, even when 

 ripe, is unfit to eat, though it has so fragrant an odour as to induce some persons 

 to keep it among their clothes. Miss Twamley, in her " Romance of Nature," in 

 speaking of this shrub, calls its flowers " fairy fires," 



" That gleam and glow amid the wintry scene, 

 Lighliiig their ruddy beacons at the sun, 

 To melt away the snow. See how it falls 

 In drops of crystal from the glowing spray ; 

 Wreathed in deep crimsoned buds the fairy fires." 



To the same natural family belong the following genera : 



1. Photinia^ embracing evergreen trees, with undivided, coriaceous, serrated, 

 or entire leaves, and, in most cases, with corymbose flowers, and small fruit. 

 They are natives of China, India, Japan, and California. 



2. Cotoneaster, consisting of several species of very desirable garden shrubs or 

 low trees, natives of Europe and India. The C. frigida and aflinis, in particular, 

 from the abundance of intense scarlet-coloured fruit they bear, which remains 

 on the trees a greater part of the winter, well deserve a place in every collection. 



3. Raphiolepis, a genus, the species of which are evergreen trees or shrubs, 

 native of China, with crenulated, coriaceous, reticulated leaves. 



4. Eriobotrya, a genus of Japanese trees, evergreen in their foliage, which is 

 large, and independently of tiicir flowers, are strikingly picturesque and orna- 

 mental. The species the most worthy of cultivation is the E. japonica. 



5. Kageneckia, a genus of evergreen trees, native of Chili and Peru, the Icave.s 



