40 FLOWERS OF THE, WOODS AND COPSES 
here, and smooth above. The cottony down is a protection to the 
stomata, the undersides being often turned upwards. 
The flowers are white, in lax corymbs. The fruit is subglobose 
and yellow. 
The tree grows to a height of 4o ft. The flowers are in bloom in 
May and June. The White Beam is a perennial deciduous tree, and 
can be increased by grafting. 
The flowers are large and conspicuous, and arranged much on the 
Photo. H. Irving 
WHITE BEAM (Pyrus Aria, Ehrh.) 
same plan as in the Rowan, where they are proterogynous. Though 
cross-pollination will normally take place, if insects are absent then the 
plant will pollinate itself. The honey is half-concealed and secreted 
at the base of the ovary. 
The fruit, a pome, is edible, fleshy and scarlet when ripe, and is 
dispersed by birds. 
This tree is a lime-loving plant, and addicted to a lime soil in its 
native habitats, but where it is planted it may grow on sand soil or 
even on clay. 
A moth, Zyonetza clerckella, feeds upon it. 
Pyrus, Pliny, is from the Latin for pear tree. 
White Beam is called Hen-apple, Beam Tree, Chess-apple, Cum- 
