PYRUS 



PYRUS 



2867 



Siberia, China, and Japan, several species are native, of which the 

 best known are the smooth-growing crab trees with small frs. that 

 shed their calices. In N. Amer. is another set, represented by the 

 Garland crab, P. coronaria, the Prairie States crab, P. toensts, and 

 the far western crab, P. fitsca. The American forms have recently 

 been re-defined into several species, the actual limitations of which 



THE TWO GROUPS. 



1. PEARS (Pyrophorum). FT. either with a conical base or 

 possessing a cavity like an apple, the flesh bearing grit-cells (unless 

 ripened off the tree); styles usually free or not united at the base: 

 calyx-tube or hypanthium closed by a cushion-like formation, in 

 fl.;"fls. white. Species 1-18. Of these plants there are perhaps 15- 

 20 species, native to S.-Cent. Eu. through the Grecian- Asia-Minor- 

 Syrian region to China. There are no representatives indigenous, 

 so far as known, in N. Amer. or Japan. 



2. APPLES (Malus). Fr. usually with a distinct depression at 

 either end, the flesh without grit-cells: styles more or less united 

 below: calyx-tube or hypanthium open: fls. pinkish, rose-color or 

 light red, sometimes clear white. Species 20-45. There are prob- 

 ably 40 good species of this subgenus, of wide distribution. The 

 common apple, P. Malus, is probably indigenous in S. W. Asia. In 



3274. Undeveloped, misshapen and coalesced apples, all from one 

 orchard of Pearmain. 



3275. Pyrus communis. ( X ^$) 



are yet to be determined. It has been difficult to find good characters 

 to separate the small-fruited apples, particularly the Asiatic forms. 

 Carriere attempted to solve tne difficulty (Pommiers microcarpes, 

 Paris, 1883) by referring them all to one polymorphous species- 

 group, Malus microcarpa. The recent study of the Asiatic material, 

 however, has resolved it into a number of well-marked species- 

 forms. 



I. PYROPHORUM, or PYRUS proper. The Pears. 



A. The occidental or Eurasian pears, being the common 

 pomological pears of this country: Ivs. appressed- 

 or crenate-serrate or entire (at least not setose- 

 serrate), mostly abruptly pointed: calyx usually 

 persistent at apex of fr. 



1. communis, Linn. COMMON PEAR. Figs. 3275; also 

 Figs. 2805 and others, p. 2505 and following. Strong 

 upright tree, .li ving to a great age and sometimes attain- 

 ing a height of 75 ft. and a girth of 15 ft. and more, the 

 Ivs. on short spurs as well as on the axial growths, the 

 pedicels and sometimes the young growth pubescent, 

 but all parts becoming glabrous: Ivs. mostly oblong- 

 ovate, with a prominent point, hard in texture and 

 veiny, bright green, the serratures small and much 

 appressed and obtuse, or sometimes the If. is almost 

 entire: fls. 4-12 in umbel-like clusters on slender 

 (2-3-in.) pedicels, white, appearing with the Ivs.; calyx 

 persistent, or rarely deciduous; stamens 15-20: fr. 

 very various under cult., usually tapering to the St., 

 the flesh generally with gritty concretions. Native to 

 S. Eu. and Asia, where it has been cult, from the earliest 

 times. Probably indigenous as far east as Kashmir. 

 In the Syrio-Persian region are several very distinct 

 pyruses of the pear group, a number of which may be 

 outlying forms of P. communis. In the wild in Eu., 

 various thorny and small-fruited forms are known. 



Var. Pyrfister, Linn. Much like the type of P. com- 

 munis, but the fr. globose: Ivs. more rounded, strongly 

 serrate, glabrous when young: usually thorny. Proba- 

 bly a wilding form. 



Var. sativa, DC. The cult, pear, in many pomologi- 

 cal forms, the tree large and free-growing and without 

 thorns: Ivs. large. 



Var. cordata, Hook. f. (P. corddta, Desv.). A spiny 

 shrub, wild in England and France: Ivs. smaller than 

 in the type (about 1 in. broad), ovate or nearly orbicu- 



