ON CERTAIN SMALL-FRUITED PEARS. 227 



of purely botanical readers. M. Decaisne's description runs as 

 follows : " Pirns* cordata, Desv. Frutex vel arbuscula diffusa ramosa 

 spinosa, cortice cinereo-rimoso ; ramulis annotinis gracilibus gla- 

 briusculis ; foliis cordatis vel ovato-cordatis acuminatis dentatis v. 

 integris interdum circinnatis mucronulatis, junioribus ciliatis, adultis 

 glaberrimis supra nitidis ; petiolis gracilibus primo pube subfusoa 

 inspersis dein glabratis, stipulissetaceis; corymbis pluriHoris fiorumque 

 pedicellis pubescenti-tomentosis ; floribus parvis, fructibus saepius 

 fasciculatis parvis rotundis magnitudine pisi majoris vel Cerasi avii, 

 calyce deciduo v. persistente longe pedunculatis fuscis albo-punctatis." 

 (Decaisne, loc. cit.) 



The Pear now in question is stated by Desvaux to be " assez 

 com7nun" in Anjou ; its fruits are described as of the same size as the 

 berries or ponies of the Hawthorn. In Hiiute-Bretague, according 

 to the same authority, it bears the name of Foirasse, to distinguish it 

 from the " Poirillonier," or wild Pear, which is the P. sylvestris of 

 authors, and which has oblong leaves. 



Decaisne adds that these wild Pears (P. cordata) are known in 

 Brittany under the name of Besi or Bezizolles, and their young stems 

 are used for walking-canes and whip-handles. 



By Durieu de Maisonneuve, as we have already seen, the plant 

 was found in the Gironde, near Canau, and in marshy places near 

 Bordeaux. He describes it, under the name of P. communis, var. 

 azaroUfera, as a bush of about the height of a man, Avith tortuous, 

 very spiny branches. But it is, he says, espociaily remarkable for the 

 extreme smallness of its fruits and their depressed globular form, which 

 are extremely rough to the taste, and undergo a kind of " bletting," as in 

 the case of Sorbs and Medlars. The fruits ripen early in August. 

 Everything points to the conclusion, says M. Durieu, that this is the 

 original stock of certain cultivated Pears distinguished by their 

 precocity and their Apple-like fruits. 



The chief differences between the French and the Plymouth 

 specimens consist, therefore, in the leaves, which are in the French 

 specimens almost suborbicular and subcordate, while the fruits are, 

 though of much the same size and speckled appearance, globose in the 

 French, turbinate in the Devonshire plant. The period of flowering and 

 ripening of the fruit present some differences in the two plants. Mr. 

 Briggs notes the flowering as " late," i.e., at the beginning of May. 

 His fruits, however, were gathered on the 13th of August (British 

 Museum specimen), so that, making allowance for difference of climate, 

 there does not seem to be any very great discrepancy as to this point 

 between the French and the English specimens. 



Thirdly, we may cite Buhse's description of his P. Boissierana, 

 as that, too, is not likely to be readily accessible to the majority of 

 British botanists. " P. fruticosa, cortice nigricante la3vi glabro ; 

 foliis adultis glabris, petiole gracili limbo plerumque longiori suffultis 

 e basi rotundato sub-cuneato ovato-rotundis obtusis v. breviter acu- 

 minatis, circumcirca minute serrulatis supra nitidis subtus pallidi- 

 oribus ; floribus — ; fructibus corymboso-umbellatis pedunculis eis 

 subduplo longioribus rubellis glabris suffultis exacte globosis rubellis 



* M. Decaisne uniformly adopts the correct classical spelling of the word, but 

 for the present purpose I have considered it beet not to depart from conven- 

 tional usa^e. 



Q 2 



