1. 



PYRUS JAPONICA. 



Japan Pyrus. 



ICOSANDRTA. PeNTAGYNIA. 



Class 12. Order 4. 



Pyrus. Pirus of Pliny: supposed to he from irup, Jire ; the fruit 

 drawing up to a point like a flame. 



Linn, si/st. 467. Willd. 1020. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Cal. superior of one leaf, five-cleft, permanent. Cor. Petals five, 

 roundish, concave, larger than the calyx, and proceeding from it. 

 Stam. Filaments twenty, awl-shaped, attached to the calyx, shorter 

 than the corolla ; anthers oblong, of two lobes. Pist. Germ in- 

 ferior ; styles five, filiform ; stigmas simple. Per. Fruit roundish, 

 umbilicated, with five membranaceous cells. Seeds two in each 

 cell. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 



Leaves elliptic- oblong, sharply serrated, smooth. 



The characters of this species frequently vary: sometimes 

 having numerous petals, as a semi-double flower, but more 

 frequently appearing with five or six. The pericarpium is 

 seldom larger than a walnut, and rarely perfects itself in this 

 country. A white and also a semi-double variety of this species 

 have been obtained, so nearly coinciding in habit with the plant 

 here figured as not to warrant their being made distinct species. 



