CHAP. XLII. ROSA‘CEE. PY‘RUS. 921 
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common mountain ash. On account of the brilliant colour of the fruit, 
and the large size of the bunches in which it is produced, this species, or 
race, well deserves a place in collections. 
¥ 30. P. microca’RPA Dec. The small-fruited Service. 
Identification. Dec. Prod., 2. p. 636.; Don’s Mill., 2. p. 648. : 
Synonymes. S6rbus aucuparia « Michz. Fl. Bor. Amer., 2. p. 291.3 S. micrantha Dum. Cours., ed. 2. 
p. 464. ; S. microcarpa Ph. Fl. Amer. Sept., 1. p. 341. 
Spec. Char., &c. Leaflets glabrous, acuminate, unequally incisely serrated ; the teeth tipped with a 
bristle-like mucro. Petiole glabrous. Pome globose, scarlet. (Dec. Prod., ii. p.637.) A native 
of mountains of North America, from Carolina to New Cesarea, where it forms a low tree or large 
shrub, growing to the height of 10 ft. According to Pursh, this species is very distinct from P. 
americana ; from which it is distinguished by the young branches being covered with a shining 
dark brown gloss, and by having small scarlet berries. We think that both this and the preceding 
sort will ultimately prove only varieties, or races, of P. aucuparia. P. Microcarpa has not yet 
been introduced into Britain. 
* 31. P. So’RBus Gertn. The True Service. 
Identification. Gertn. Fruct., 2. p. 45. t. 87.; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 637. 
Synonymes. Sérbus domestica Lin. Sp., 684; PYrus doméstica Smith in Eng. Bot., t. 350., Wallr. 
Ann. Bot., 145., Don’s Mill., 2. p. 648. ; the Whitty Pear Tree, the Sorb Tree ; Cormier, or Sorbier 
cultivé, Fr. ; Speyerlingsbaum, or Sperberbaum, Ger. ; Sorbo, Ital. ‘ 
Engravings. Eng. Bot., t.350.; Gzrtn. Fruct., 2. t. 87. ; our fig, 644.; and the plate in our Sixth Volume. 
Spec. Char., &c. Buds glabrous, glutinous, acuminate. Leaflets serrated, 
villose beneath, but becoming naked when old. Pome obovate, pear- 
shaped. (Dec. Prod., ii. p. 637.) A tree of the middle size, a native of 
Europe, chiefly of the middle region, and found also in some parts of Bar- 
bary, particularly in the neighbourhood of Algiers. The only plants of the 
species in its uncultivated state, which we know of in England, are in Wyre 
Forest and the arboretum at Milford. 
Varieties. In Du Hamel and the Dictionnaire des Eaux et Foréts, eight 
varieties of the true service are described; but in British gardens only the 
two following sorts are cultivated : — 
* P. S. 2 maliformis Lodd. Cat., la Corme-Pomme, Fr., has apple-shaped 
fruit. Of this variety there are trees which bear abundantly in the 
Horticultural Society’s Garden, and in the Hackney Arboretum. 
* P.S.3 pyriformis Lodd. Cat., la Corme-Poire, F’r., has pear-shaped 
fruit; and of this also there are fruit-bearing trees in the places 
above referred to. 
Description. ‘A tree, in foliage and general appearance, closely resembling 
the mountain ash; but attaining a larger size, and bearing much larger fruit, 
of a greenish brown colour when ripe. In France this tree attains the height 
of 50 ft. or 60 ft.: it requires two centuries before it reaches its full size; and 
lives to so great an age, that some specimens of it are believed to be upwards 
of 1000 years old, It grows with an erect trunk, which terminates in a large 
pyramidal head. The bark of the trunk is smooth and grey, like that of the 
mountain ash, in young trees; and that of the smaller branches is slightly 
reddish; but the bark of the trunk, in old trees, is rough, scaly, and full of 
cracks, and its colour is a dark brown. This tree is readily known from the 
mountain ash, in winter, by its buds, which are smooth and green, instead of 
being downy and black; in the beginning of summer, by its leaflets being 
broader, downy above, and also beneath ; and, in autumn, by its pear or apple 
shaped fruit, which is four or five times the size of that of P. aucuparia, and 
of a dull greenish brown colour. It is said to be 30 years before it comes 
into a bearing state when it is raised from the seed; but, when scions from 
fruit-bearing trees are grafted on seedling plants, or on the mountain ash, 
they come into bearing in a few years, as in the case of other fruit trees. 
(See Gard. Mag., iv. p. 487.) 
Geography, History, §c. The true service is not found in abundance in 
any part of th® world. There are, perhaps, more trees of it in the middle 
region of France, and the Alps of Italy, than in all other countries put 
together; but it is also found in the south of Germany, in some parts of 
the north of Africa, and in Western Asia. It was formerly said to be a native 
of different parts of Britain; but in Smith’s English Flora there is no positive 
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