114 SYSTEM ATir POMOLOGY 



163. Pyrus baccata, the crab-apple, described. — Proceeding 



now to tlif ci-ali-aj)])!!' ol' Aiiici'ifaii ixmiolo^ists, il sccins safe to 

 say tliat all the varieties of this fruit of present commercial 

 iiH|)ortance l)elon«;' lo P. baccata oi* are hybrids with this species 

 and /'. Mains. In citliei- case they are often called Siberian 

 crabs, althoujrh this name belongs more ])roj)erly to pure-hred 

 varieties of I\ baccata. 



L\ Pyrus baccata, Linn. Plant a small round-headed tree attaining a 

 height of 30-40 feet, with a trunk 10-12 inches in diameter, which divides 

 into many rather slender branches forming a compact head; vigorous, hardy 

 and productive; \v(kh1 hard and tough, bark much less rough and tree 

 smoother in all of its parts than in the common apple. Leaves ovate, ovate- 

 lanceolate or ovate-acuminate, thin, glabrous, bright green; petioles slen- 

 der; margins finely and evenly serrate. Flowers large, white, very fragrant, 

 handsome ; a})pearing with the leaves ; pedicels very slender, greenish ; style 

 usually longer than the stamens, glabrous or lightly pubescent, calyx-lobes 

 long, narrow acuminate; calyx falling away before maturity. Fruit from 

 %-l inch in diameter, yellow or red; borne on long and slender stems; 

 basin shallow or none, often wrinkled or having mammiform protuberances ; 

 flesh yellow, very firm, subacid, astringent, translucent. Seeds small, short, 

 wide, obtuse, dark brown. 



164. Botanical varieties of crab-apples. — There are several 

 botanical forms of P. baccata, but to which of these the culti- 

 vated crab-apples belong students of the species do not agree. 

 No doubt, there are a number of wild hybrids, as there cer- 

 tainly are of domesticated ones. Among these botanical varieties 

 are twenty or more oriental flow^ering crab-apples, some of which 

 have been more or less cultivated for their edible fruits, or used 

 as stocks for the common apple in China and Japan. Several 

 of these Asiatic crab-apples are promising, also, for hybridiza- 

 tion with the common apple and the Siberian crab. 



165. Habitat and history of the crab-apple. — The crab-apple 

 probably came originally from Siberia, northern China, and 

 ^lanchuria but has been cultivated for its fruit and flowers in 

 China and Japan from time immemorial. The species and some 

 of its botanical varieties were early introduced into Europe, 

 although little grown there until the last century for its fruit. 

 While they may have come earlier as ornamentals, these crabs 

 seem not to have been mentioned as fruit-trees in America until 

 toward the close of the eighteenth century. Since nurserymen 



