PYRUS 281 



sometimes heart-shaped, but often rounded or broadly wedge-shaped at the 

 base, are usually less than ii ins. long, finely and evenly round-toothed. 

 Flowers smaller, in distinct racemes. Fruits globular, ^ to ^ in. diameter, 

 brown spotted with white, smooth. These small rounded fruits afford the 

 best distinction between this pear and P. communis. Long known as a 

 native of France, Spain, and Portugal, it was, in 1865, also discovered wild in 

 the south-west of England by Mr T. R. Archer-Briggs. (It is sometimes 

 called P. communis var. Briggsii, Syme.) 



P. LONGIPES, Cosson and Durieu. Also of the communis group and very 

 nearly allied to P. cordata, this pear is a native of Algeria, especially in the 

 mountain gorges above Batna. It is a small tree or shrub, with smooth 

 branchlets. Leaves roundish oval or broadly ovate, I to 2 ins. long, j to \\ ins. 

 wide; the base sometimes slightly heart-shaped, more especially tapering; very 

 finely and evenly round-toothed, quite smooth on both sides, lustrous above ; 

 stalk slender, I to 2 ins. long. Flowers white, I to \\ ins. across, produced in 

 corymbs 2 to 3 ins. in diameter. Fruit about the size and shape of a small 

 cherry, produced on a slender stalk i to i^ ins. long, turning from green to 

 brown as it ripens, the calyx-lobes falling away. Introduced from Kew to 

 France in 1875. 



P. CORONARIA, Linnceus. AMERICAN CRAB. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 2009 ; Malus coronaria, Miller ; M. fragrans, Rehder.) 



A tree 20 to 30 ft. high, with a short trunk and a wide-spreading, open 

 head of branches ; young snoots downy the first summer. Leaves ovate to 

 three-lobed, 2 to 4-^ ins. long, sometimes nearly as much wide, but usually 

 i to i\ ins. wide, pointed, the base rounded or slightly heart-shaped, some- 

 times fapering ; very soon quite smooth on both surfaces ; margins sharply, 

 deeply, and irregularly toothed; stalk downy, i to i^ ins. long. Flowers 

 white, tinged with rose, fragrant like violets, i^ to 2 ins. across, produced in 

 clusters of four to six, each flower on a slender stalk, i to 2 ins. long. Fruit 

 i to \\ ins. across, orange-shaped, yellowish green, very harsh and acid. 



Native of Eastern N. America ; introduced in 1724, but not so common 

 as one might expect from the beauty and fragrance of its flowers, which come 

 in May and June later than any other of the Malus group, except its two 

 immediate allies. There are two American crabs closely allied to this species : 

 they are P. angustifolia, with narrower leaves tapering at the base, and P. 

 ioensis, in which the foliage is much more downy (and persistently so) 

 beneath. The larger, broader leaves of P. coronaria frequently suggest those 

 of our native P. latifolia in shape. " P. coronaria flore pleno " is a wrong 

 name for P. ioensis flore pleno, a very beautiful crab (q.v.) 



P. CRAT^GIFOLIA, Targioni. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 7423 ; Malus florentina, C. K. Schneider ; Crataegus florentina, Zuccagni.') 



A bush or small tree of rounded habit, with slender, dark brown branches ; 

 branchlets woolly when young. Leaves rather hawthorn-like, '\\ to 2^ ins. 

 long, | to 1 1 ins. wide ; broadly ovate in the main, but with the margins 

 always cut up into several lobes which are themselves toothed ; base rounded 

 or heart-shaped ; dark green above, with scattered hairs when young, paler 

 and downy beneath ; stalk downy, reddish, up to i in. long. Flowers pure 

 white, about | in. diameter, produced in June five to seven together on lax 

 open corymbs 2 or 3 ins. across, each flower on a slender, downy, pinkish 

 stalk i to i^ ins. long ; calyx very woolly, the lobes narrow, pointed. Fruit 

 roundish oval, ^ in. long, yellowish changing to red, the calyx fallen away. 

 II T 



