272 PYRUS 



a cold frame, but most of them are increased by grafting on the various 

 crab and apple stocks used in nurseries for garden apples. 



VI. ERIOLOBUS. 



Very like Malus in general characters, the styles being united at the 

 lower third, but the flesh of the fruit is "gritty," like that of some pears: 



trilobata, Tschonoski. 

 f 



P. ALNIFOLIA, Franchet. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 7773 ; Micromeles alnifolia, Koehne?) 



A deciduous tree of rather slender, erect habit, ultimately 40 to 50 ft. high ; 

 branchlets furnished with short silky hairs when quite young. Leaves of thin 

 texture ; \\ to 3 ins. long, f to i ins. wide ; the apex pointed, the base 

 rounded, margins double-toothed ; nerves parallel in seven to twelve pairs, 

 silky-hairy beneath when young, becoming smooth later ; stalk \ to f in, long. 

 Flowers white, \ in. diameter, produced during May in corymbs 2 to 3 ins. 

 across ; calyx and flower-stalks silky. Fruit \ to in. long, oval, bright red, 

 no calyx adhering at the top. 



Native of Japan and Corea ; put in cultivation by Mr Spath of Berlin about 

 1892, but may have been known before. It is one of the neatest and most 

 pleasing of the Micromeles group, and is very appropriately named. The 

 leaves are bright green beneath, and bear a close resemblance to those of an 

 alder. Fine crops of fruits ripen, and they become very brightly coloured, and 

 remain long on the tree, but only a small proportion contain good seeds. 

 Very deserving of cultivation. 



P. AMERICANA. De Candolle. AMERICAN MOUNTAIN ASH. 



(Sorbus americana, Marshall?) 



A tree 15 to 25 ft. high, ultimately forming a narrow, rounded head of 

 slender branches ; young snoots smooth or slightly downy only at first ; 

 winter buds f in. long, sharply pointed, gummy, with a tuft of hairs at the 

 apex. Leaves pinnate, 6 to 12 ins. long, composed of eleven to seventeen 

 leaflets, which are i^ to 3 ins. long, \ to f in. wide, narrowly oblong-lanceolate, 

 pointed, evenly saw-toothed except at the base, smooth except when quite 

 young ; stalkless or nearly so. Flowers creamy white, about \ in. across, 

 produced about the beginning of June in flattish corymbs 3 to 5 ins. across ; 

 calyx and flower-stalk smooth, or slightly downy ; calyx-lobes short, triangular. 

 Fruit bright red, J in. across, slightly longer than broad. 



Native of Eastern N. America, from Newfoundland to Virginia. It is a 

 close ally of the European mountain ash, but has larger leaves and smaller 

 flowers, and is much less downy in its various parts ; in winter it is easily 

 distinguished by its sticky, only slightly downy buds. It fruits freely in this 

 country, and its bunches of berries are as handsome as those of the rowan tree, 

 but it does not thrive so well. Loudon in 1837 observed that although it was 

 introduced in 1782, he knew of no large old specimen. It is quite hardy, and 

 grows rapidly in a small state. 



Var. DECORA, Sargent. Said by Sargent to be the finest form of 

 P. americana. " Fruits bright scarlet, often | in. in diameter." Leaflets 

 fewer, larger, and broaHer than in the type. It appears to cover some of 

 the same country, and may have been introduced as ordinary P. americana, 



