156 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



those of Pyrus intermedia, except that the lobes are triangular pointed, and not 

 rounded as in that species, the sinuses never being acute at their bases. 



Van semilobata (Bechstein).^ Leaves oval or elliptic oval, acute at the apex, 

 narrowed at the base, lobes sharply cuspidate. 



Identification 



In summer the leaves are distinguishable from those of Pyrus intermedia 

 by the characters of the lobes and sinuses ; while broad-leaved forms differ from 

 Pyrus torminalis in being tomentose beneath, the lobes never being so long as in 

 that species. The tomentum wears off the under surface of the leaf towards the 

 end of the season, and is never so dense or so persistent as in intermedia. On 

 Plate 44 figures are given of leaves from wild trees occurring at Symond's Yat 

 (Fig. 9) and Minehead (Fig. 11), and from a cultivated tree at Kew (Fig. 12). 

 In winter a tree cultivated at Kew showed the following characters, represented in 

 Plate 45. 



Twigs : long shoots, shining, round, glabrous, except for a little pubescence near 

 the tip ; lenticels numerous as oval prominent warts ; leaf-scars set somewhat obliquely 

 on prominent, often greenish cushions ; crescentic with three bundle dots, of which 

 the central one is the largest. Terminal bud oval, much larger than the side buds, 

 which come off the twigs at a very acute angle, with their apices bent inwards. All 

 the buds are viscid, pubescent at the tip, and composed of oval scales, which are 

 keeled on the back, ciliate in margin, and short-pointed at the tip. Short shoots 

 ringed, slightly pubescent, ending in a terminal bud. In the specimens examined the 

 leaf-scar at the base of the terminal bud had acute lateral lobes not observed in other 

 species of Pyrus ; but these are probably not always present. 



Distribution 



The tree was first discovered in the forest of Fontainebleau,^ and was 

 described by Valliant^ as "Crataegus folio subrotundo, serrato, et laciniato." 

 Duhamel du Monceau gave a figure of the leaf in his classic work.* The 

 distribution on the Continent of the type, and of the forms allied to it, has been 

 given above. 



In England a small tree, of somewhat rare occurrence, grows wild in woods 



' Pyrus semilobata, Bechstein, loc. cit. 152 and 317, t. 6. 



' I visited Fontainebleau in 1905 on purpose to see this tree at home, and found only small trees of it in full flower 

 on 14th May. I was informed by M. Reuss, Inspector of Forests at Fontainelileau, that the tree grows scattered only in the 

 part which is called Montenflamme and Mont Merle, where the sand is covered by the calcareous strata of Beaune, so that 

 the tree is evidently peculiar to calcareous formations. Formerly the trees were cut with the underwood, but are now reserved 

 on account of their rarity, as well as the whitebeam and P. lorniiiialis, which M. Reuss considers to be indigenous at Fontaine- 

 bleau, and therefore admits the possibility of their hybridising. The largest tree known to him is on Mont Merle, at the 

 comer of the roads d'Anvers et de I'Echo in the i6th serie, and is 40 centimetres in diameter, or about 4 feet in girth at 5 feet 

 from the ground. It is known to the peasants at Fontainebleau as baguenaudicr or elorsier, but is generally termed by French 

 botanists alisier de Fontainebleau. (H. J. E.) 



' Botanicon Parisicnse, ed. 3, p. 63 (1727). * Traiti des Arbres, i. 194, t. 80, fig. 2 (I7SS)- 



