880 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUJM. PART III. 



cultivated of all ligneous plants ; the apple and the pear being highly esteemed 

 fruits, both in the temperate and transition zones of both hemispheres. These, 

 and all the species of the genus, are propagated by grafting on the wild varie- 

 ties of each division. We have before stated the price of the grafted fruit 

 trees which belong to i?osaceaB to be, about London, from \s. to Is. 6(1. each 

 for dwarfs, and from 2*. 6d, to as. each for standards; at Bollwylier, francs may 

 be substituted for shillings ; and at New York, cents for halfpence ; the Ame- 

 rican cent being about equal to the English halfpenny, or the French sous, and, 

 of course, worth 5 French centimes. 



§ i. Pi/t^6phorum Dec. 



Sect. Char. Petals spreading, flat. Styles 5, distinct. Pome more or less 

 top-shaped, or subglobose, without a concavity at the base. Pedicels simple, 

 umbeled. Leaves simple, not glanded. {Dec. Prod., ii. p. 633.) This sec- 

 tion comprehends all the pears, properly so called. 



!K 1. P. commu'nis L. The common Pear Tree. 



Identification. Lin. Sp , 686. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 633. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 6()5. 



Synonymes. P. .,4^chras Gcertn. Fruct., '2. p. 44. t. 87. ; P. sylv^stris Dod. Pempt., 8(X). ; Pyraster Ray 



Syn.,i52.; Poirier, Fr. ; gemeiiie Birne, or Birnebaum, Ger.; Veto, Ital. ; Pera, Span.; and 



Gruschka, Biissian. 

 Engravings. Blackw. Herb., t. 453. ; Eng. Hot., t 1784. ; and the plate of this species in our Second 



Volume. 



Sjjec. Char., Sfc. Branches and buds glabrous. Leaves ovate, serrated, gla- 

 brous upon both surfaces. Flowers corymbose. Wild in the woods of 

 Europe, or cultivated in gardens. {Dec. Prod., ii. p. 634.) 



Varieties. De CandoUe mentions two forms of the wild species, compara- 

 tively permanent ; to which we have added several others, the result of cul- 

 tivation, and which are more or less accidental or temporary. To these we 

 might have subjoined a class of wild pears with hoary leaves, such as P. 

 nivalis, P. A-alicifolia, &c., which we consider as varieties, or races, though 

 commonly treated as species; but we have preferred giving them afterwards 

 as distinct sorts. 

 3f P. c. 1 A^chras Wallr. Sched., p. 213. — Spiny leaves ; woolly when young, 

 but afterwards glabrous; the disk ovate, acuminate, entire; the 

 petiole long. Tube of the calyx woolly when young, afterwards 

 becoming glabrous. Pome with its basal part long. 

 If P.C.2 Pj/rdster Wallr, Sched., p. 214., Gasrtn. Fr., t. 87. f. 2. — Spiny. 

 Leaves roundish, acute, sharply serrated, glabrous even when young. 

 Tube of the calyx, while young, glabrous. Pome rounded at the base. 

 2 P. c. Sfoliis variegdtis has variegated leaves. 

 t P. c. 4'fructu variegato has the skin of the fruit variegated with yellow 



and white. 

 3f P. c. 5 sangidnolenta, the sangidnole Pear, has the flesh of the fruit red, 

 or reddish; and, though small and gritty, is not bad to eat when ripe, 

 i P. c. 6 Jidre plena ; Poire de I'Armenie Bon.Jard., p. 43. ; has double 



flowers. 

 5? P. r. 7 jdspida ; Bon Chretien a Bois jaspe Bon Jard., edit. 1836, 



p. 424. ; has the bark of the wood striped with yellow, 

 i P. c. 8 sativa Dec. — Without .spines. This is the cultivated variety, of 

 which there are very numerous subvarieties in gardens. For these 

 De Candolle refers us to Miller's Dictionary, and to Du Hamel's 

 Des Arbres Fridtiers ; but, at the present time, by far the most com- 

 plete collection in the world, of cultivated pears, is in the garden of 

 the London Horticultural Society; and they are described in the 

 Fndt Catalogue (edit. 1831) of that body. From this catalogue 

 Mr. Thompson has made for us the following selection of sorts 

 which are at once deserving of culture as ornamental trees, and as 

 producing fruit of first-rate excellence. 

 Bemre Diet. Leaves large, and flowers very large. A hardy tree, some- 

 what fastigiate in its shape ; a great bearer, and deserving of exten- 



