THE APPLE AND PEAR TREES 



bark is lighter in color, and the berries are 

 larger, but apart from these differences the 

 trees can scarcely be told apart in winter. 



Pyrus sambucifolia, the elder-leafed moun- 

 tain ash, is another native species which grows 

 wild in the mountains of Northern New Eng- 

 land and is found as far north as Greenland 

 and westward. The range of Pyrus americana 

 is more limited, but it is found from Newfound- 

 land to North Carolina and westward. 



Wild Black ^ * ree or s ^ iru ^ varying from 

 Cherry 15 to ioo feet high. The bark 



pmnus strotina i$ smooth on young trees, with 

 conspicuous horizontal lenticels ; on old trees it 

 cracks and breaks off in small, thin, brittle scales. 

 The branches are slender, rigid, reddish brown 

 in color, and bitter to the taste. The buds are 

 pointed, a light chestnut brown in color, with 

 closely overlapping scales. Alternate leaf scars. 

 The black cherry may be identified in winter 

 by its bark and by the disagreeable bitter taste 

 of its stems, no other tree has a strong, pecu- 

 liar, pungent taste like this. The bark of the 

 young trees is really beautiful, it is so smooth 

 and has such a rich reddish brown color; in 

 some characteristics it resembles that of the 

 black birch, but the larger, coarser lenticels 

 distinguish it from that tree. 



171 



