204 XXXII. ROSACEA. [Pyrus. 



long as leaf or nearly so. Flowers white, in short corymbs at the end of 

 short, often leaf-bearing branchlets. Calyx-tube campanulate or turbinate, 

 not much contracted at the mouth ; limb spreading, divided down to the 

 tube or nearly so into 5 lanceolate or triangular acute lobes. Petals 

 clawed, rounded, obtuse, flat, twice as long as calyx, patent. Styles 5, free. 

 Fruit more or less turbinate, not umbilicate at base, crowned with the 

 persistent calyx. 



Indigenous in Transylvania, South Eussia, mountains of Asia Minor, the 

 Caucasus, and North Persia. Believed to be indigenous in France, and other 

 parts of Central Europe. Naturalised and often seemingly wild in England. 

 Believed to be wild in Kashmir. Cultivated on account of its fruit throughout 

 Europe, Western Asia, and in the North- West Himalaya, between 2000 and 

 8500 ft., ascending in Ladak to 10,000 ft. Fl. March, April ; fr. July-Sept. 

 Some good kinds are grown in Kashmir and Afghanistan, but generally the 

 Himalayan pears are indifferent. Occasionally the tree is cultivated in the Pan- 

 jab plains, and in other parts of India ; the fruit is hard, but good for baking and 

 stewing. At Calcutta it blossoms, but never sets fruit. The wood is only used 

 for ordinary purposes, and is not valued. In Europe the wood is prized on 

 account of its close and compact grain ; it is used for engraving, turning, and 

 mathematical instruments. Decaisne, in Jardin Fruitier du Museum (Le 

 Poirier), 1871-72, i. 122, considers the Pears, comprising P. communis, variolosa, 

 syriaca, &c, as different races only of one species. 



2. P. variolosa, Wall. Syn. P. Pashia, Don. ; Decaisne Jardin 

 Fruitier du Museum, Le Poirier, t. 7. Vern. Tang, batangi, tdngi, shin- 

 dar, kent, ban keint, katari, kithu, gad klyi, ku, shegul, Pb. ; Meal, 

 mehal, mol, N.W.P. ; Passi, Nepal. 



A moderate-sized tree; extremities, underside of youngest leaves, inflor- 

 escence, and calyx clothed with dense white or yellow, floccose tomentum. 

 Branchlets often spinescent. Leaves ovate or ovate-lanceolate from a 

 rounded or slightly cordate base, often lobed or pinnatifid, long-acuminate, 

 crenate, on slender petioles half the length of leaf or longer. Flowers 

 white, slightly tinged with pink, on lateral cymose corymbs, at the end of 

 short, often leaf-bearing branchlets. Calyx-tube urceolate, mouth con- 

 tracted, limb spreading, white-hairy inside and outside, divided half-way 

 down into 5 obtuse or acute ovate lobes. Petals obovate, rounded, with 

 dark radiating veins. Fruit nearly globose when ripe, J-1J in. diam., 

 crowned with the base of calyx, blackish, rough, and scurfy, with 

 numerous elevated round white spots. The ripe fruit by hanging gets 

 yellowish russet-brown. 



Common in many parts of the Himalaya from the Indus to Bhutan, at eleva- 

 tions between 2500 and 8000 ft. Occasionally cultivated. Also in the Kasia 

 hills. Leaves and flowers March, April ; fruit ripens Sept. -Dec. ; fl. occa- 

 sionally in autumn. Hardy in England. 20-35 ft. high, trunk short, rarely 

 exceeding 5 ft. girth, crown oval, not very close. Bark dark-coloured, with some 

 whitish spots, and shallow longitudinal furrows. Wood brown, compact, fine- 

 grained, hard and durable, not easily attacked by insects. Walking-sticks, 

 combs, tobacco-tubes, and various implements made of it. The fruit is never 

 eaten, until like a Medlar it is half rotten, and even then is harsh, not sweet. 

 A form with glabrous pedicels and rotundate calyx-lobes from Kamaon is 

 described by Decaisne (1. c. under P. Pashia) as P. Kumaoni; and another, with 





