134 FAMILIAR TREES 



the varieties. The leaves are always acutely pointed, 

 though the apex varies from an abrupt point (" cuspi- 

 date ") to a long and tapering one (" acuminate "). 

 They turn black when dried. 



By about the middle of April the Pear-trees of 

 our suburban orchards ought, in favourable seasons, 

 to spread over the landscape the snowy sheet of their 

 full bloom. The flowers, however, continue for some 

 time, lasting generally until about the middle of the 

 following month, thus preceding the warmer-tinted 

 Apple-blossom by about a fortnight. Though the 

 flowers of the Pear are as " precocious " in their first 

 appearance on the bare branches as those of the 

 Blackthorn, the white mass of bloom is soon relieved 

 by a delicate background of tender green. The 

 flowers are grouped in flat-topped, or "corymbose," 

 clusters, and each one of the bunch is an inch or an 

 inch and a half across the same size, that is, as those 

 of the Apple, from which they are technically distin- 

 guished, not by their colour, but by having their 

 styles distinct to the base instead of being united 

 below. This union, of course, takes place later, when 

 the so-called " calyx-tube " binds together the five 

 carpels into a single Pear. As the study of the not 

 uncommon specimens of abnormal fruits shows, this 

 structure, which is essentially nothing more than an 

 expansion of the flower-stalk or " floral receptacle," 

 contributes far more largely to the fruit than is the 

 case in the Apple. It grows first as a thickened 

 cylinder below the flower, and then expands in a 

 globular form around the five carpels or " core " 

 which it imbeds. This " core," it should be observed, 



