916 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



Pome globose, scarlet. (Dec. Prod., ii. p. 636.) A native of mountainous 

 woody places in Gothland, Thuringia, and Britain. A species, according 

 to De Candolle, a hybrid between P. intermedia and P. aucuparia ; growing 

 to the height of 20 ft. or 30 ft. ; and of the same culture as P. A^na. The 

 varieties enumerated below, as far as we have seen them, are hardly de- 

 serving of being kept distinct, unless we except P, p. pt'ndula. 



Varieties. 



^ P. p. 2 lanugindsa has the leaves more woolly than those of the species^ 



5f v. p. 3 pcndula, .Sorbus hybrida pendula Lndd. Cat., has the head loose, and the branches 

 somewhat pendulous. There is a tree in the south-west corner of the Horticultural So- 

 ciety's Garden, the fruit of which is red. 

 ^ P. p. 4 (iibiiscula Dec, Poir. Suppl, 5. p. 144. — Dwarf Leaflets glabrous in a measure, obtuse j 

 the outermost usually corniate. A native of Germany. Is it a variety of P. aucuparia ? 

 :. (Dec. I' rod., ii. p. G3().) 



Statistics. Plants of this kind in the Horticultural .Society's Garden, and in the arboretum of the 

 Messrs. Loddiges, are from 15 ft. to 20 fL high, after being 10 or 12 years planted. In Worcestershire, 

 at Croome, a tree, 50 years planted, is 45 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 24 in., and that of the 

 head 35 ft. In Scotland, in the Glasgow Botanic Garden, one, 15 years planted, is IC ft. high. 



Y 28. P. ALCUP.i^RiA Gccrtn. The Fowler's Service Tree, or Mountain Ash. 



Identification. Gairtn. Fruct., 2. p. 4.5. t. 87. ; Dec. Prod., 2 p. 6;37. ; Don's Mill., 2 p. G48. 



Synonj/mcs. .Sorbus aucup&ria [.in. .Sp.,G8.'3. ; A/espilus aucup^ria All. ; yuickon Tree, Quick Beam, 

 wild' Ash, wild .Service, Wichen Tree, RowanTrce, Kowne Tree, Roan Tree, Hodd.in, Uoutry, Moun- 

 tain Service, Witchen, wild Sorb.Whichcn, Whittcn, Wiggen tree ; Sorbier dis Oiselcurs, or Sorbier 

 des Oiseaux, Fr. ; Vogel Beerbaum, Gcr. ; Sorbo salvatico, Ital. 



Derivation. The I^tin name, P. aucuparia ^the Fowler's Pyrus) the French names, Sorbier des Oise- 

 lcurs (the Bird-catcher's .Service), and Sorbier des Oiseaux (.theBird Service); and the German name, 



I Vogel Beerbaum (the Bird's Berry I'reel ; are all derived from the nse made of the berries by bird- 

 catchers, in all countries where the tree grows wild, and from time immemorial, to bait springes 

 with. It is calletl the Mountain Ash, from its growing on mountains, and the piini.T? of its leaves 

 bearing some resemblance to those of the common ash. Witchen, and all itsileriv.itivcs, bear rela- 

 tion to supposed powers of the tree, as a protection against witches and evil spirits. 



Engravings. Ga;rtn. Fruct., 2. t. 87. ; Eng..Bot, t. 337. ; and the plate of this sjjecics in our Second 

 Volume. 



Spec. Char., c^c. Buds softly tomentose. Leaflets serrated, slightly glabrous. 

 - Pomes globose. (Dec. Prod., ii. p. 637.) A low tree, a native of almost 



every part of Europe ; growing to the height of 20 ft. or 30 ft. ; flowering in 



May, and ripening its fruit in September. 



Varieties. 



t P. a. 2 fruclu lidco has yellow berries, and is continued by grafting. 



5 P. a. li/oliis varicgutis has variegated leaves. 



i P. a. i fasligidta has the brandies upright and rigid. There are plants 

 of this kind in the Horticultural Society's Garden, which were re- 

 ceived from Mr. Ilodgkin of Dunganstown Nursery, in the county of 

 Wicklow. 



De.icription. The mountain ash forms an erect-stemmed tree, with an or- 

 bicular head. When fully grown, like every other description of Pyrus, it 

 assumes a somewhat formal character; but in a young state, its branches are 

 disposed in a more loose and graceful manner. The bark is smooth and grey, 

 in the young and old wood ; the leaves are impari-pinnate, and the leaflets are 

 serrated, except at the base. They are smooth above, and nearly so beneath ; in 

 which last respect they differ from the leaves of Pyrus .S'orbus, which, in their 

 young state, at least, are downy beneath as well as above. The tree grows 

 rapidly for the first three or four years ; attaining, in five years, the height of 

 8 ft. or 9 ft. ; after which it begins to form a head, and, in ten years, will 

 attain the height of 20 ft. This head will continue increasing slowly, though 

 the tree seldom grows much higher, for the greater part of a century; after 

 which, as it appears by the oldest trees that we have obser\'ed or heard of in 

 Scotland, the extremities of the branches begin to decay. The tree will not 

 bear lopping, but grass, and other plants, grow well under its shade. 



Geographt/, History, Sfc. The mountain ash is a native of most parts of 

 Europe, from Iceland and Greenland to the Mediterranean Sea. It is found, 

 also, in the north-west of Asia, at Labrador, Nova Scotia, and in other regions 

 of the most northern parts of North America. According to Pallas, it is 

 frequent throughout the whole of Russia and Siberia, as far as the Eastern 



