282 PYRUS 



Native of N. Italy, and very rare both in a wild state and in cultivation. 

 There are few more charming' small trees than this in the latter half of June, 

 the long, slender shoots of the previous summer being then clothed with 

 abundant short twigs, each with its cluster of white flowers. The leaves are 

 very similar in form to those of the wild service (P. Torminalis) only much 

 smaller. Its fruit is not particularly bright, but the foliage often turns a 

 brilliant orange-scarlet before falling. It is very suitably placed as an isolated 

 specimen on a lawn. Plants at Kew now 6 or 8 ft. high, and as much through, 

 were introduced by the late Mr H. Groves from near Florence in 1886. 



P. DECURRENS, Ascherson. 



(P. lanuginosa of gardens ; Sorbus decurrens, HedluncL') 



A hybrid between P. Aria and P. Aucuparia, with the leaves partly pinnate, 

 partly simple. The lower part of the leaf is composed of two to four pairs of 

 leaflets, the remaining and smaller upper part consisting of one lobed or 

 pinnatifid segment. It has an origin similar to that of P. pinnatifida, but 

 shows much more the influence of P. Aucuparia in the number of separate 

 leaflets. The Aria influence is shown in the persistent greyish down beneath 

 the leaf, and in the amalgamation of the upper leaflets. There is a tree at 

 Kew 30 ft. high, with a trunk girthing 3 ft. It is usually found in gardens as 

 " P. lanuginosa," but the true P. lanuginosa of De Candolle is merely a 

 variety of P. Aucuparia with densely woolly leaves (wholly pinnate) and hairy 

 young shoots. P. NEUILLYENSIS is a very similar tree, either of the same 

 origin as P. decurrens or a cross (or intermediate) between Aucuparia and 

 pinnatifida (see under P. Aucuparia). 



P. DIPPELII, Bean. 



(Sorbus Dippelii, Zabel.) 



A bushy-headed shrub ; young wood thickly covered with grey felt. 

 Leaves i J to 3^ ins. long, f to i^ ins. wide ; narrowly oval or oblanceolate, 

 shallowly toothed, bright green and smooth above, covered beneath with a 

 close grey felt, tapering at the base to a stalk to | in. long. Flowers in. 

 across, white, with rose-coloured anthers, produced in small downy corymbs. 

 Fruit top-shaped or roundish, ^ in. long, blue-black. 



A hybrid between P. Aria and P. melanocarpa, .of unknown garden origin. 

 Its affinity with P. melanocarpa is shown in the presence of glands along the 

 upper surface of the midrib, and in the blackish fruits. It is an interesting 

 and pretty round shrub, often made into a small tree by grafting on standards 

 of mountain ash or hawthorn. It is often called "P. alpina ;> in gardens ; 

 the true 



P. ALPINA, Willdenow (Sorbus alpina, HeynholcT), is very nearly allied, having 

 P. Aria and P. arbutifolia as its parents. It differs from P. Dippelii most 

 markedly in having clear red fruits, and in the leaves (upper surface especially) 

 being less downy. Var. SUPER-ARIA is apparently a reversion towards 

 P. Aria, or perhaps a cross between that species and P. alpina ; the leaves are 

 much larger and broader than in the latter, the flower clusters are also larger, 

 the fruits deep red. 



P. FLORIBUNDA, Nicholson. 



(Malus floribunda, Siebold ; Garden, Oct. 14, 1876 (plate).) 



A tree ultimately 20 to 30 ft. high, with a spreading tangle of branches 

 forming a rounded head wider than the tree is high ; often shrubby ; young 



