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PYRACANTHA 



P. COCCINEA, Roemer. PYRACANTH, BUISSON ARDENT. 



(Cratoegus Pyracantha, Medicus.} 



An evergreen shrub or small tree, up to 15 ft. high, of very dense, leafy 

 habit ; young shoots covered with grey down, the slender thorns ^ to f in. 



long ; branches often thorn- 

 tipped. Leaves narrowly 

 obovate or oval, tapered at 

 both ends, blunt-toothed ; 

 I to "2\ ins. long on the 

 barren shoots, \ to i^ ins. 

 long on the flowering "ones, 

 varying from \ to f in. wide: 

 dark glossy green above, 

 paler beneath, smooth ex- 

 cept at the margins near 

 the base ; stalk \ in. or 

 less long, downy. Flowers 

 white, J in. across, very 

 numerously borne in early 

 June in corymbs terminating 

 short twigs which, springing 

 from the shoots of the pre- 

 vious year, form one large 

 panicle ; flower-stalks and 

 calyx slightly downy ; calyx- 

 lobes broadly triangular. 

 Fruit brilliant coral-red, 

 orange-shaped, about \ in. 

 across. 



Native of S. Europe and 

 Asia Minor ; introduced in 

 1629. This well-known ever- 

 green is more often seen 

 growing against a wall than 

 in the open, and no doubt 

 bears fruit more abundantly 

 there. It is, in fact, one of 

 the most desirable of ever- 

 green wall shrubs. But 

 when once established it is 

 quite hardy in the open ; at 

 Kew there are specimens 

 15 ft. high that bear fruit 

 profusely. The shrubs have 

 to be netted, as birds (black- 

 birds especially) are very 

 greedy for the fruits. The 

 pyracanth should be used 

 more than it is as an 

 evergreen shrub. It bears 

 pruning well, and its only 

 defect is that it transplants badly except when young. 



Var. LALANDEI, Dippel. l^ variety raised from seed by M. Lalande of 

 Angers about 1874. It is of more vigorous, upright growth than the type, and 

 has leaves of proportionately greater width on the average, as well as larger 



PYRACANTHA COCCINEA. 



