CHAP. XLII. ROSA^CEJE. PY^RUS. 891 



of this species render it very desirable as an ornamental plant. Dr. 

 Lindley, after describing it, says ; " Nature seems to have intended it to 

 brave the utmost inclemency of climate ; for, in its own country, in the 

 earliest spring, the leaves, while still delicate and tender, are clothed with 

 a thick white coating of wool; and the flowers themselves are so deeply 

 immersed in an ample covering of the same material, as to bid defiance to even 

 Tartarian cold. But, in proportion as the extent of the distribution of the plant 

 descends towards the plains, or as the season of warm weather advances, it 

 throws off its fleecy coat, and at length becomes as naked, and as glittering 

 with green, as the trees which have never had such rigour to endure. In 

 England, it scarcely acquires any part of its natural wooUiness, but is as 

 naked as our common beam tree." (Bot. Reg., t. 1655.) There are plants 

 of this species in the Garden of the Horticultural Society, and in the 

 arboretum of Messrs. Loddiges ; but their general appearance seems to us 

 much more like that of an AYia than of a Pyrus. 



5f 11. P. VARioLo'^sA Wall. The variable-leaved Pear Tree. 



Identification. Wall. Cat. 680. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 622. 

 Si/nont/me. P. Pasliia Ham. ex Herb. Lin. Soc. 

 Engraving. Our plate in Vol. II. 



Sjiec. Char., S(c. Leaves ovate, acuminated, crenated, glabrous in the adult 

 state, on long petioles ; when young, clothed with yellowish tomentum 

 beneath. Umbels terminal. Pedicels and calyxes woolly. (Don's Mill., ii. 

 p. 622.) A tree, a native of Nepal and Kamaon ; where it is said by Mr. 

 Royle to grow to a great height. It produces its white flowers, slightly 

 tinged with pink, in April and May ; and they are succeeded by pear-shaped 

 fruit, which remain on the tree all the winter, and even till the flowers are 

 produced the succeeding season ; and at last die off of the colour of a ripe 

 medlar. It was introduced in 1823, or earlier; and a plant, in the Fulham 

 Nursery, ripened fruit in 1832- According to Royle, the fruit is not edible 

 until it becomes somewhat decayed. In the open air, in mild winters, this 

 species is subevergreen ; and, against a wall, in the Horticultural Society's 

 Garden, it is completely so. It forms a very handsome tree, very hardy, 

 and of tolerably rapid growth, which is well worth a place in every col- 

 lection. 



App. i. Species of Vyrus belonging to the Section Pyrdphorum, 

 and not yet iyitroduced. 



p. cuneif'olia Gus. PI. Rar., p. 202., Don's Mill., 2 p. 622., is a native of Calabria, on hills j said to 

 be allied to P. parviflbra Desf., and P. salicifblia L. 



P. parvifinta Desf. Cor., 78. t.JS. ; P. sylvestris erotica C Bauh. Pin., p. 4.59., Doyi's Mill., 2. 

 p. 623. ; is a native of Candia, with red flowers ; and is said to grow from 20 ft. to 30 ft. high. 



P. Michaiixn Bosc in Pair. Suppl., i. p. 4o2., Don's Mill., 2. p. 623., is a native of North America, 

 with globose fruit, growing to the height of 20 ft. 



P. iiidica Colcbr. Wall. PI. Rar. Asiat., 2. t. 172., Don's Mill., 2. p. 622., is a native of the moun- 

 tains of Silhet, in Bengal, with white flowers, fruit about the size of the wild pear, and leaves lobed 

 in the young plants. 



§ ii. "Mdlus. 



Sect. Char. Petals spreading, flat. Styles 3, more or less strictly connate at 

 the base. Pome mostly globose, depressed, and invariably having a con- 

 cavity at its base. Flowers in corymbs. Leaves simple, not glanded. 

 (Dec. Prod., ii. p. 635.) This section includes all the apples and crabs. 



1 12. P. ilfA^us L. The common, or wild, Apple Tree. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 686. ; Smith's Eng. Flora, 2. p. 362. ; Lindl. Synop., 2d edit., p. 105. ; Dec 



Prod. 2. p. 655. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 623. 

 St/nonymcs. P. il/alusmitis iV'allr. Sc/ied., p. 215. ; il/alus communis Dfc. Fl. Fr.; Pommier com- 



roun, Fr. ; gemeine Apfelbaum, Ger. 

 Engravings. Our plates in Vol. II. 



