CHAP. XLII. liOSA^CEJE. PY'RVS. 879 



Genus XVIII. 



PY'RUS Lind/. The Pear Tree. Lm. S^st. Icosandria Di-Pentagynia. 



Identification. Lindl. Lin. Soc. Tr., 13. p. 97. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 633. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 605. 

 Synoni/t/ies. P^rus, A/ilus, and S6ibus, Tourn. ; Pfras and S6ibus, Ltn.; Pyrophorura and 

 Apyr6phormn, Neck. 



Description. Low trees, and some shrubs ; almost all deciduous ; natives 

 of Europe, Asia, and North America. Some of them in great estimation 

 throughout the world for their fruit ; and others cultivated chiefly for their 

 flowers. Under the genus Pjrus, botanists have lately united the Linnaean 

 genera Pyrus and Morbus, together with several species formerly included 

 under il/espilus, Cratae'gus, and other genera. Taking the generic character 

 from the fruit, this union appears strictly in accordance with the canons laid 

 down by botanists : but we cannot help stating our opinion, that it would be 

 much more convenient, in a practical point of view, in establishing genera, to 

 take into consideration the leaves, the character of the vegetation, the phy- 

 siology, and even the habit, of the plant, than merely to draw the distinctive 

 characteristics from the parts of fructification. In consequence of attending 

 only to these parts of plants, the genus Pyrus, as at present constituted, con- 

 tains species, such as the apple and pear, which will not graft on each other ; 

 a circumstance which clearly shows that the union of these two kinds of plants 

 in one genus is not a natural one. We not only think that no plants should 

 be comprehended in the same genus which will not graft reciprocally on each 

 other, but that plants of different habits or constitutions should not be united ; 

 and, consequently, that twining plants should not be united with trees and 

 upright shrubs ; nor deciduous trees and shrubs with evergreens. In short, 

 as we have stated in p. 812., we would form genera on a kind of na- 

 tural system, from all the circumstances of the plant taken together, 

 and not from any particular part, or circumstance, or class of circumstances, 

 belonging to it. We think we may refer, in confirmation of the propriety of 

 this doctrine, to the excellent observations that have been quoted from Dr. 

 Lindley, under the head of Lowea ; not without a hope, as it was in the 

 commencement of Dr. Lindley's botanical career that he brought so many 

 species, dissimilar in habits, together into the genus Pyrus, that he will, in ac- 

 cordance with what he has stated in the passage referred to, be at some future 

 time induced to separate them, and to restore the genera iWahis, -S'orbus, 

 yl'ria, and Aronia. We request our readers to observe that here, as in other 

 similar cases, we merely state our opinion ; and that we by no means consider 

 ourselves entitled to separate assemblages of species, or to alter established 

 names, in any manner whatever. No one ought to do this who has not 

 attained a degree of rank in the botanical world to which we have no preten- 

 sion : and hence, in all those cases in which we have assumed a species to be 

 a variety, we have only indicated our opinion in parentheses, leaving the reader 

 to adopt it, or not, as he chooses. We may be allowed, however, to throw out 

 suggestions for the consideration of botanists ; and, as these are always made 

 with the most perfect good feeUng, and are merely submitted as speculative, 

 with a view to do good, we hope our readers will receive them in the same spirit 

 as that in which they are made. When a more perfect knowledge is obtained of 

 all the vegetable productions of the earth, we have no doubt that it will be 

 found necessary to remodel the whole of the genera, as well as to give new 

 and characteristically composed names to all the species ; a labour which, great 

 as it may appear at present, will be diminished to a degree scarcely credible, 

 when the present chaos of names, and, apparently, of species, is reduced by 

 simplification. 



To return to the genera Pyrus, we believe we may assert that some 

 of the species it contains are, and have been for ages, the most universally 



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