Pyrus 



i6i 



in some places attaining lo metres in height. In the Finnish islands of Aland it 

 is found truly wild, in a few places only, sometimes in company with an allied 

 species, P. fennica. Conwentz identified it at Bergo, SkarpnStS, Labnas, and else- 

 where. The finest specimen he saw at Ostergeta, being 1 2 metres high and 2 metres 

 in girth. 



In south-eastern Sweden it is more abundant, but does not occur in any of the 

 provinces north of Wermland, about lat. 60 N. In the neighbourhood of Stockholm 

 it grows at Stockby to 12 metres in height. In Sodermanland and the island of 

 Gothland it is more common. 



In Denmark the tree has been found in many places, and is undoubtedly wild 

 near Aarhus in Jutland, in the forests of Adslev, Kolden, and Jexen. I believe that 

 I also saw it in the forest of Roldskov near Aalborg, though I did not at that time 

 distinguish it from Pyrus Aria. In the island of Bornholm it is known under the 

 name of " Axelbar." 



In Germany it is confined to a limited area on the coasts of West Prussia and 

 Pomerania, where Conwentz has found it living in six places only Koliebken, Hoch 

 Redlau, Oxhoft, Karthaus, Gr. Podel, and Markuhle near Kolberg. He gives maps 

 showing the position of the trees in these places, and says that whilst P. torminalis 

 grows in the interior, where the hornbeam is predominant, P. intermedia grows in 

 the country along the coast, where the beech is the prevailing tree. It occurs most 

 commonly in a shrubby condition, the tallest wild one being only 13 metres high by 

 I metre in girth, but one tree at Gross Podel in Pomerania is 1.90 metre in girth, 

 and at Wernigerode, in the Harz, a cultivated tree has attained 17 by 3.17 metres, 

 which is the largest known to Conwentz. He thinks that the scarcity of the tree 

 in Germany arises from its not being indigenous, as no geological evidence exists of 

 its having been formerly commoner, and suggests that it has been introduced from 

 Sweden by birds of passage, such as the waxwing or thrushes, which are fond of the 

 fruit, and may have voided the seeds after migration from the north. 



The Swedish name is Oxel, and this name being found in many place and family 

 names in Sweden, shows that the tree was probably more common formerly than at 

 present. 



In Norway, Schlibeler^ says that it is wild only in the most southern parts, as 

 at Porsgrund, Grimstad, and Dalen in Eidsborg, in lat. 59 42' N. There are large 

 trees at Lunde in Stavanger district growing near the church. In the Botanic 

 Gardens at Christiania I have seen a tree which is about 1 2 metres high and over 

 2 in girth. It has been planted and grows well at Stenkjser, at the north end of the 

 Trondhjem Fjord. The Norsk name is Maave. 



Dr. Brunchorst, Director of the Bergen Museum, informed the Earl of Ducie 

 that Pyrus intermedia, as well as P. pinnatifida (P. fennica), were found on the 

 south-west coast of Norway, and that a hybrid which he calls Pyrus Meinickii, 

 P. fennica X Aucuparia, has also been recently discovered in the " MosterO Bommel 

 Fjord," Dr. Brunchorst, who has paid much attention to this genus, says that three 

 species which he cultivates at Bergen vary much, and perhaps pass into one another. 



' Schtibeler, Viridarium norvegiaim, vol. ii. 477 ('^ 



