PY'RUS JAPON'ICA. 



JAPAN APPLE-TREE. 



Class. Order. 



ICOSANDRIA. PBNTAGYIUA. 



Natural Order. 



ROSACES. 



No. 49. 



With the exposition and inferences of Linneus 

 before us respecting the word Pyrus, as given by 

 Sir J. E. Smith, we cannot submit to the deduction 

 of the term from the Greek PUR, fire, which is sta- 

 ted as given in consequence of the fruit drawing to 

 a point like a flame. De Theis says, from the Cel- 

 tic PEREN comes the Anglo-Saxon PERE, the En- 

 glish PEAR, and the French POIRE. Hence Py- 

 rus may easily be formed. According to the same 

 writer, API, the Celtic name of a fruit of the same 

 kind, is the origin of the Greek APIOS, the German 

 APFEL, and our APPLE. Some authors, who will 

 have Pyrus to be of Greek extraction, deduce it from 

 APIOS, with the addition of an R, &c. 



That our readers may be prepared to meet new 

 names, they should be informed that Chaenomeles 

 Japonica, and also Malus Japonica, are amongst 

 those lately bestowed on this shrub. 



The mere mention of Pyrus opens to our view 

 such a field of speculations as it were impossible to 

 pass without notice. We have the Pyrus malus, 

 under which name is arranged all the varieties of 

 that valuable fruit the Apple ; and Pyrus communis 



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