THE BOTANY OF THE APPLE TREE. 

 THE APPLE SPECIES. 



SECTION 1. Calyx-lobes persistent upon the ripe fruit; styles 5; 

 fruits 5-celled. 



A. Leaves folded in the bud, more or less pinnately lobed; flowers 



white or pink ; trees more or less thorny. 



1. EASTERN APPLE (Pirns coronaria L.) Leaves ovate to tri- 



angular-ovate, sharply cut-serrate, and often 3-lobed ; twigs 

 and leaves soon smooth; flowers on smooth pedicels; ripe 

 fruit depressed-globose, yellow-green, 1 to 1 J inches in di- 

 ameter. A shrub 8 to 10 feet, or small tree 20 to 30 feet 

 high. Native of North America, from New York to Michi- 

 gan, and south to Georgia and Alabama, and frequently 

 planted for ornamental purposes. 



2. PRAIRIE APPLE (Pirus ioensis (Wood) Bailey). Leaves el- 



liptic-oblong to ovate-oblong, irregularly and obtusely 

 toothed ; twigs and under surface of leaves white-woolly ; 

 flowers on white- woolly pedicels; ripe fruit depressed-glo- 

 bose, yellow-green, 1 to 2 inches in diameter. A shrub or 

 tree like the preceding. Native of the Mississippi valley. 

 This is probably the parent form of the "Soulard Crab/' 

 which Professor Bailey has described as P. soulardi. 



3. SOUTHERN APPLE (Pirus augustifolia Ait.). Leaves lanceo- 



late-oblong, coarsely and bluntly toothed ; twigs and leaves 

 soon smooth ; flowers on smooth pedicels ; ripe fruit de- 

 pressed-globose, yellow-green, f to 1 inch in diameter. A 

 shrub or tree like the preceding, native from Pennsylvania 

 to Florida, and west to the Mississippi valley, and fre- 

 quently planted for ornamental purposes. 



It is probable that the three foregoing species are but geographical 

 varieties of one species, as they show easy gradations from one to the 

 other. The Prairie apple appears to be the most valuable, and as a 

 consequence it is the most promising as a stock for the development of 

 cultivated varieties. 



B. Leaves rolled in the bud, not lobed. 



(a.) Fruit crowned by the calyx lobes only (not by a tube). 



4. SMOOTH WILD APPLE (Pirus silvestris (Mill.) Koch). 



