PYRUS 299 



2 to 5 ins. long-, i| to 3 ins. wide ; pointed, unevenly toothed, the base 

 rounded ; covered with loose down above when young, afterwards becoming 

 smooth ; permanently grey-felted beneath ; veins in six to ten pairs, parallel ; 

 stalk downy, to i in. long. Flowers I to i ins. across, white, suffused' at 

 first with rose, produced four to six together in umbels, each flower on a 

 woolly stalk ^ to f in. long ; calyx covered with white wool. Fruit globose, 

 i in. wide, brownish yellow flushed with purple, erect on a stalk i to i| ins. 

 long, crowned with the persistent calyx teeth. 



Native of Japan, and first discovered at the foot of Fujiyama. It does not 

 appear to be anywhere common, and was first introduced to cultivation by 

 Prof. Sargent, who, in 1897, sent plants to Kew, raised from seed he had 

 collected five years previously. It is a tree of more interest than beauty, so 

 far as one has yet been able to judge, for it does not flower very copiously, 

 and its fruits have no attraction in colour. In North America its leaves are 

 described as changing in autumn into beautiful shades of orange and yellow. 



P. VESTITA, Wallich. HIMALAYAN WHITEBEAM. 



(Sorbus cuspidata, Hedlund, Bot. Mag., t. 8259 ; P. Aria himalaica, Hort.) 



A deciduous tree of large size in a wild state, but rarely seen more than 

 35 ft. high under cultivation. The habit is rather gaunt; branches few, 

 thick, covered when young with a white wool, which afterwards falls away, 

 leaving the shoots of a smooth, purplish brown. Leaves oval or ovate, 5 to 7 

 (sometimes 9) ins. long by 2^ to 5 ins. wide, the margins toothed, sometimes 

 doubly so or slighty lobed ; upper surface covered at first with a white cobweb- 

 like down, but soon becoming smooth, lower surface covered with a persistent 

 thick felt, at first white or yellowish white, becoming grey later ; nerves 

 parallel, in ten to seventeen pairs ; stalk ^ to i in. long. Flowers white, f in. 

 across, produced in late May or early June in substantial corymbs 2 to 3 ins. 

 wide ; petals woolly within ; stalks and calyx very woolly. 



Native of the Himalaya ; introduced in 1820, and the most striking in its 

 foliage of all the whitebeam group. Although nearly a century has elapsed 

 since it was first brought into cultivation, very few specimens of large size 

 exist in this country. The largest I know of is at Buckland St Mary, Chard, 

 which a few years ago was nearly 40 ft. high. It grows well for some years, 

 and then suddenly and without any apparent reason, sometimes in the middle 

 of summer, will clroop and die. 



P. VlLMORINl, Ascherson. 



(Sorbus Vilmorini, C. K. Schneider ; Bot. Mag., t. 8241.) 



A shrub or small tree, 10 to 20 ft. high, of elegant, wide-spreading habit, 

 the young shoots stiff, covered when young with a brownish down. Leaves 

 pinnate, 3 to 5^ ins. long, composed of six and a half to fourteen and a half 

 pairs of leaflets, which increase in size towards the end of the leaf. Leaflets 

 narrow, oblong, or oval, \ to f in. long \ to J in. wide ; stalkless, toothed 

 towards the apex, smooth on both sides ; common stalk slightly winged and 

 more or less downy, especially early in the season. Flowers white, \ in. 

 diameter, produced in June on slender stalked corymbs at the ends of short 

 twigs, and in the leaf-axils, the whole forming a pretty inflorescence 2^- to 4 

 ins. across. Fruit globular, \ in. across, pale rosy red. 



Native of W. China ; originally raised in France by Mr Maurice de 

 Vilmorin from seed he had received from the missionary Delavay in 1889. 

 Introduced to Kew in 1905. This beautiful shrub is apparently quite hardy, 

 and is one of the most elegant species introduced in recent years. The neat, 



