362 ICOSANDRIA— PENTAGYNIA. Pyius. 



oblong, of 2 lobes. Germ, inferior, roundish. Shjles 

 from 2 or 3 to 5, thread-shaped, about the length of the 

 stamens. Stigmas simple, or bluntish. Apple roundish 

 or somewhat oblong, umbilicated, fleshy, of as many carti- 

 laginous or membranous bivalve cells as there are styles. 

 Seeds 2 in each cell, erect, obovate, flattened at one side. 



Trees, generally without thorns. Leaves alternate, stalked, 

 simple or pinnate, entire or serrated. Fl. white or reddish, 

 corymbose, umbellate, or panicled. Fruit acid and austere, 

 greatly improved by culture, very various in size, colour 

 and figure. 



Gaertner first ventured to unite the above Linnaean genera, 

 including the Quince, Cydonia ,- but the latter having 

 vei'y numerous horizontal seeds, may perhaps form a ge- 

 nus along with Pyrus japonica, whose fruit being erro- 

 neously described by Thunberg, as having 5 valves, 

 caused Mr. Lindley to make it distinct. But this fruit 

 is no more valvular than an apple, and greatly resembles 

 a quince in odour. The cells of the fruit in Pyrus vary, 

 even in one species, the common Pear, from cartilaginous 

 to membranous, and gradations in texture from one 

 species to another are so insensible, that they baffle all 

 generic distinction. The bony cells of Mespihis, each of 

 one piece, and not splitting asunder, perhaps sufficiently 

 mark that genus. 



1. P. communis. Wild Pear-tree. Iron Pear. 

 Leaves simple, ovate, serrated. Flower-stalks coi'ymbose. 



P. communis. Linn. Sp. PL 6S6. mild. v. 2. 1016. FL Br. 531. 

 EngL Dot. t).25. L 1/84. Ehrh. Arb. 64. 



P. Achras. Gcertn. v. 2. 44. t. 87. 



P. n. 1096. Hall. Hist. v. 2. 35. 



P. sylvestris. Dod. Pempt. 800./. Baiih. Pin. 439. 



Pyrum strangulatorium majus. Ger. Em. 1457./. 



Pyra. Camer. Epit. 152./. 



Pyraster, seu Pyrus sylvestris. Raii Syn. 452. 



In woods and hedges. 



Tree. April, May. 



A tall handsome tree ; the branches first erect, then curved down- 

 wards, and pendulous ; in a truly wild state thorny. Leaves 

 ovate, or elliptic-oblong ; when young downy beneath, and co- 

 piously fringed with soft white hairs; smooth and shining when 

 at their full growth, deciduous. They lose their serratures by 

 culture. Stipulas linear, soon falling. Flower-stalks terminal, 

 downy, corymbose, FL copious, snow-white, with pink anthers. 



