PYROSTEGIA 



PYRUS 



2865 



lar or slightly cupulate; ovary linear with the seeds 

 arranged in 2 rows or in zigzag: pod linear with leathery 

 valves and elliptic winged seeds. Four species in S. 

 Amer. Formerly usually united with Bignonia, but 

 easily distinguished by the lobes of the corolla being 

 valvate in bud and by its tubular, nearly claviform 

 shape. Cult, and prop, like bignonia. 



venusta, Baill. (P. ignea, Presl. Bignonia venlista, 

 Ker). Fig. 3265. Sts. stria te or somewhat angled, 

 pubescent while young: Ifts. usually 3, ovate to ovate- 

 oblong, shortly and obtusely acuminate, cuneate at the 

 base, glabrous above, puberulous beneath, 1%-2K 

 in. long: fls. in drooping panicles; calyx campanulate, 

 shortly 5-toothed; corolla tubular-funnelform, crimson- 

 orange, 2-3 in. long, with oblong, obtuse, reflexing lobes. 

 Brazil. B.M. 2050. P.M. 7:123. B.R. 249. G.C. II. 

 11:274. A.F. 11:1023. J.H. ILL 49:281. G. 5:481. 

 H.U. 5, p. 1. One of the best rafter plants for warm 

 greenhouses; blooms profusely in early winter. 



ALFRED REHDER. 



PYRULARIA (diminutive of Pyrus; alluding to the 

 shape of the fr.). Santalacex. OiL-Xur. BUFFALO- 

 NUT. A shrub in E. X. Amer. and 2 trees in the Him- 

 alayas with alternate, deciduous, entire Ivs. and green- 

 ish fls. in spikes or racemes: fls. subdioecious, apetalous; 



3265. Pyrostegia venasta. ( X H) 



sepals and stamens 4-5 ; filaments short ; ovary inferior, 

 1 -celled, with 2-3 ovules: fr. a 1-seeded drupe. The 

 species in cult, is P. pubera, Michx. (P. oleifera, Gray). 

 A straggling shrub, to 12 ft., puberulous while young: 

 Ivs. short-petioled, obovate-oblong, acute or acuminate, 

 cuneate at the base, minutely punctulate, 2-6 in. long: 

 spikes terminal, few-fld.; calyx 5-cleft: fr. pear-shaped 

 or subglobose, yellowish, about 1 in. long, crowned by 

 the ovate calyx-lobes, containing an acrid oil like the 

 whole plant. "May. Pa. to Ga. and Ala. B.B. (ed. 2) 

 1 :641. Of no particular ornamental value, but botani- 

 cally interesting; half-parasitic on the roots of Tsuga 

 like Buckleya, which see for cult. ALFRED REHDER. 



PYRUS (Latin name of pear tree). Sometimes 

 spelled Pints. Rosaces. THE POME-FRUITS, as all the 

 kinds of pears, apples, and crab-apples; also many small 

 trees and bushes grown for the very handsome early 

 flowers and sometimes for the attractive habit, foliage, 

 and little fruits. 



Woody plants, bearing mostly on spurs, with simple 

 but sometimes lobed alternate Ivs. (pinnatifid some- 

 times in P. heterophylla) : fls. usually perfect, but rarely 

 polygamous, regular, in spring; torus urn-shaped and 

 attached to the carpels and finally closing over them, 



and with them becoming fleshy in fr.; calyx-lobes 5 

 and persistent upon the top of the young fr., or in 

 some cases falling away at maturity or before; petals 5, 

 white or red, perigynous; stamens 15-20 or more; 

 styles 2-5, crowning a 2-5-loculed inferior ovary in 

 which the locules are usually 2-seeded. (Figs. 3266, 



3266. Flowers of apple. The ovaries are shown in the section, an 

 ovule being at O. 



3267). Pyrus is a polymorphous genus, in the northern 

 hemisphere. The species are mostly small trees, bearing 

 clusters of showy white or blush fls. with the Ivs. or in 

 advance of them. They are natives mostly of cool 

 temperate regions, and the greater part of them are 

 hardy in the northern United States. There are widely 

 unlike practices among botanists in denning this 

 important and interesting genus. Half a century 

 ago, when it was a widely prevalent practice to assem- 

 ble groups which agree in general gross structure 

 and which can be held together by a broad definition, 

 Pyrus was held to include not only 

 the pears and apples, but the moun- 

 tain-ashes or sorbuses, the medlar 

 and quinces, the chokeberries and 

 other groups (Bentham & Hooker, 

 Genera Plantarum, 1867). As late as 

 1894, Focke (Engler & Prantl, Pflan- 

 zenfamilien) holds Pyrus intact except 

 for the separation of Cj-donia and 

 Mespilus. While many botanists still 

 hold most or all of these groups in 

 Pyrus, the present tendency to segre- 

 gate all groups for which separate 

 definitions can be found results in the 

 dismemberment of Pyrus. As the old 

 rather gross assemblage, resulting from the effort to 

 find agreements, can hardly be expected to hold, so the 

 present disunion, resulting from the effort to find differ- 

 ences, may be expected to pass, and the practicable 

 and convenient grouping may be found somewhere 

 between the two extremes. There seems to be good 

 justification for the separation of Cydonia and Mespilus, 

 and perhaps also for Sorbus and Aronia, but it is yet 

 to be determined whether the separation of Malus 

 (the apples) will meet with continuing favor. See 

 Mains, p. 1973, Vol. IV. 

 The many-seeded carpels 

 of Chaenomeles (Figs. 

 3268, 3269) and Cydonia 



3267. Longitudi- 

 nal section of 

 flower of Pyrns 



TTalliana. 



3268. Lengthwise section 

 of Chaenomeles Maulei, by 

 some referred to Pyrus, to 

 show many-seeded cores 

 and the lack of peduncle. 



3269. Lengthwise section of 

 Chaenomeles cathayensis. 



