Pyrus 



151 



PYRUS TORMINALIS, Wild Service 



Pyrus torminalis, Ehrhart, "Plantag." xxii. ex Beit, zur Naturkunde, vi. 92 (1791); Loudon, Arb. et 

 Frut. Brit. ii. 913 (1838); Conwentz, Beob. iiber Seltene WaldbUufne in West Preussen, 3 (1895). 

 Cratcf^s torminalis, Linnaeus, Sp. PL 4t6 (1753). 

 Sorbus torminalis, Crantz, Stirp. Austr., ed. 2, fasc. ii. 85 (1767). 

 Torminaria Clusii, Roemer, Synopsis, iii. 130 (1847). 



A tree, attaining exceptionally a height of 80 feet, but more generally only reach- 

 ing 40 or 50 feet. Bark smooth and grey at first, but after fifteen or twenty years of 

 age scaling off in thin plates, and ultimately becoming fissured. Leaves long-stalked, 

 broadly oval, nearly as broad as long, with a cordate or truncate base and an acute 

 apex; with 6-10 triangular acuminate serrate lobes; shining and glabrous above, 

 obscurely pubescent beneath ; nerves pinnate, 5-8 pairs. Flowers white in corymbs. 

 Styles 2, glabrous, united for the greater part of their length. Fruit ovoid, brownish 

 when ripe, with warty lenticels, vinous in taste when in a state of incipient decay ; 

 cut across transversely it shows a ring of white hardened tissue, forming a mesocarp 

 around the core. 



The leaves are generally described as glabrous on the under surface, but in all 

 specimens traces of pubescence may be observed, which is much more marked on 

 coppice shoots and epicormic branches. 



Varieties 



None have been obtained in cultivation so far as we know, and wild trees vary 

 very little in any of their characters. A vasi^ly , pinnatifida, with the lobing of the 

 leaves very deep, is described by Boissier,^ from specimens occurring in Asia 

 Minor and Roumelia. 



Identification 



The leaves in summer are unmistakable (see Plate 44), and can only be 

 confounded with certain forms of Pyrus latifolia ; but in the latter species the under 

 surface of the leaf is always plainly grey tomentose, and the lobes are much shorter 

 than in P. torminalis. In winter the following characters, shown in Plate 45, are 

 available. 



Twigs : long shoots, glabrous, shining, somewhat angled, with numerous 

 lenticels ; leaf-scar semicircular with 3 bundle traces, set parallel to the twig on a 

 greenish cushion. Buds almost globular, terminal larger, side-buds nearly appressed 

 to the twig ; scales green with a narrow brown margin, glabrous, with the apex 

 double-notched. Short shoots slightly ringed, glabrous, ending in a terminal bud. 



(A. H.) 



' /'/era Orientalis, ii. 659 (1872.) 



