-1^30 IOWA ACADEMY OP SCIENCES. 



The fruit inclines more toward an oblong shape than does 

 that of coronaria which is quite compressed from cavity to 

 basin, both species very fragrant. 



HYBRIDS— SOULARD CRAB. 



Pyrus Soiclardi Bailey. Am. Gard. 12:473. 1891. 

 P. loioensisxP. Malus. Bailey. Ev. Nat. Fr: 189. pi 11. 1898. 

 A tree upwards of thirty-five feet in height with wide spread- 

 ing top; trunk six inches to fourteen inches in diameter; bark 

 dark, rough, differing in the nature of its scales from that of 

 the wild crab {loivensis), the outer layer breaking into short, 

 longitudinal scaly ridges; the older branches smooth, a 

 dark grayish-brown in color, the one-year-old twigs covered 

 with a dense grayish-brown tomentum like those of the common 

 apple. Mature leaves, broadly oval or approaching oblong, 

 margin irregularly grossly serrate, sometimes deeply cut. A 

 very common peculiarity in the margin is to find one side 

 regularly serrate like those of the common apple while the 

 other side is almost lobed. Base rounded or oblique, apex 

 obtuse or rounded, the upper surface wrinkled, rugose in 

 appearance owing to the depression of the veins, dark green, 

 lighter and densely tomentose below; leaves borne on stout 

 wooly petioles one-fourth inch to one inch long; young leaves 

 thickly tomentose. The flowers are borne in clusters like 

 those of the common apple, pinkish- white in color, rather 

 smaller than those of P. loioensis, one inch to one and one- 

 fourth inches in diameter. 



Regarding its botanical relationship, there has been a great 

 diversity of opinion. It has been held to be a variation of P. 

 coronaria, a hybrid of P. lowensis, and a distinct species. 

 Sargent, in his Silvaof North America, inclines to the first view. 

 Soulard, took it to be a hybrid. He said, "It is to me conclu- 

 sive that this crab is the offspring of an accidental hybridiza- 

 tion of the wild crab by our common apple. ' ' Professor Bailey 

 in the August number of the American Garden, 1891, described 

 it as Pyrus soulardi, n. si). In his "Evolution of Our Native 

 Fruits, " however, he says, "I now confess to a belief that P. 

 soulardi is not a true species but a hybrid between Pyrus 

 lowensis and the common apple, Pyrus mains. The chief con- 

 siderations which led me to this conclusion are the facts that 

 the plant, in a wild state seams to have no connected or normal 

 range, and that various specimens which I have had an oppor- 



