260 



BEAUTIES OF BRITISH TREES. 



[Feb. , 



natural rockery. In such spots, with Guelder-Eose, or Silver Birch, 

 should tlie JMountain Ash be planted. 



The Wild Service-tree {Pyrus torminalis). A rarer and less 

 known member of the genus than the Mountain Ash, the Wild 

 Service-tree has some beauties of its own. It is known as the Wild 

 Service-tree, to distinguish it from Pyrus sorhas or domestica, a 

 species now extinct in England, but of which one tree grew formerly 

 in the heart of Wyre Forest, in Worcestershire. This true Service- 

 tree had pinnate leaves like those of the Mountain Ash, but its fruits 

 resembled miniature Pears. On the Continent, where it is common, 







SPRAY OF MOUNTAIN ASH. (PyrHS CUiCUpat ici.) 



it is valued for its liard wood. The Wild Service-tree, on the other 

 hand, is more nearly related to the White Beam {P. aria), having 

 simple, loljcd leaves and a greenish-brown fruit, generally sub-globose, 

 though sometimes slightly pear-shaped. The name 'Service' is 

 from the Latin cerevisia, beer, the trees containing a bitter astrin- 

 gent principle that caused them to be used, not only medicinally in 

 dysentery, but also, before the time of hops, in brewing. 



The Wild Service is an uncommon tree in the south of England and 

 Wales, forming a small bush on the precipitous limestone cliffs that 

 overhang ' the sylvan Wye,' or small standard trees in the woodlands of 



