276 PYRUS 



seeds, but the young plants grow very slowly at first. The timber is hard 

 and heavy, but is too scarce to count for much in the timber trade. The 

 largest tree recorded by Elwes is at Camp Wood, near Henley-on-Thames, 

 which in 1905 was 75 ft. high by 4 ft. 9 ins. in girth of trunk. The white- 

 beam has many varieties, some wild, others of garden origin. The most 

 distinct are as follow : 



Var. ANGUSTIFOLIA, Lindley. Leaves narrow, ovate-lanceolate, base very 

 tapering, always more than twice as long as wide. 



Var. CHRYSOPHYLLA. Leaves yellow all the season, rather narrower than 

 in the type. Of garden origin, and sent out by Mr Hesse ofWeener, Hanover. 



Var. FLABELLI FOLIA (Sorbus Aria var. flabellifolia, Wenztg). A very 

 distinct form, sometimes made into a separate species. Leaves smaller and 

 rounder than in P. Aria, snow-white beneath, nearly always wedge-shaped at 

 the base, broad and jagged at the apex, ribs rarely more than six on each side, 

 margins coarsely cut and toothed except at the lower part. A small tree or 

 shrub wild in S.E. Europe and Asia Minor. 



Var. GR^ECA, Boissier (Sorbus graeca, Loddtges). A small tree or shrub 

 sometimes confused with the preceding, but with larger, broadly ovate leaves, 

 having as many as ten ribs on each side, and less deeply jagged at the 

 margins. Native of S.E. Europe. 



Var.- MAJESTICA, Prainj Bot. Mag., t. 8184 (Aria Decaisneana, Lavallee). 

 This is the finest of all the varieties of whitebeam, having larger leaves and 

 fruits than any. It is of unknown origin, but is recorded as having existed in 

 the Segrez Arboretum in 1858. It was at one time known in the nurseries 

 near Paris as the " Sorbier du Nepaul," but there is no evidence to show that 

 it ever came from Nepal or any part of N. India. We are thus led to believe 

 that, like many other fine varieties of trees, it originated as a chance and 

 unrecorded seedling under cultivation. Its leaves are sometimes 7 ins. long 

 and 3 to 4 ins. wide, the fruits in. long. In other respects it does not differ 

 from P. Aria. Sometimes known as " Sorbus majestica." 



Var. QUERCOIDES. A form of dwarf habit with leaves evenly lobed like 

 those of common oak, and upturned at the edges. 



Var. RUPICOLA (P. rupicola, Symej English Botany, ed. 3, t. 481). A 

 dwarfed variety found in several elevated limestone districts of Great Britain. 

 It differs from ordinary P. Aria in the obovate leaves, wedge-shaped towards 

 the base, with fewer veins, and becoming smooth on the upper surface more 

 quickly. According to Mr Syme, the flowers are rather larger than ,in P. Aria, 

 but the fruit is smaller. Under cultivation it may revert to the type. 



Var. SALICIFOLIA. Leaves narrower than in the type, but not so narrow 

 as in var. angustifolia ; stalks longer as a rule. 



Var. SINENSIS, Henry. " Leaves narrow, lanceolate or ovate, with 

 acuminate apex and cuneate base, crenately serrate. A series of forms occur 

 in the mountains of Hupeh, China, where the trees are common at high 

 elevations, and vary from 10 to 40 ft. in height ; very beautiful in foliage, and 

 vigorous in growth." (Henry in Trees of Great Britain and Ireland, p. 167.) 

 Introduced by Wilson for Messrs Veitch in 1901. 



Var. SULPHUREA. Leaves as in the type, but pale yellow. 



All the varieties are best grafted on stocks of P. Aria, but owing to its 

 slow growth from seed, stocks of mountain ash or even hawthorn are preferred. 



P. AUCUPARIA, Gaertner. MOUNTAIN ASH, ROWAN. 



(Sorbus Aucuparia, Linnccus.} 



A deciduous tree, 30 to 60 ft. high, of erect growth when young, becoming 

 more spreading and graceful with age ; trunk smooth and grey ; branchlets 



