PYRUS 



PYRUS 



2871 



tose beneath, and by the long pedicels. Probably 

 Asian. 



Var. Niedzwetzkyana, Asch. & Graebn. (Pyrus 

 Nifdi-etzkyana, Hemsl. >. Mature Ivs. tinged red on 

 midrib and nerves, the fls. deep pink, the flesh of the 

 fr. purplish : wood and bark also red or reddish. S. W. 

 Siberia and Caucasus. B.M. 7975. R.H. 1906:232. 

 F.S.R. 2:344. A very ornamental tree. 



Var. apetala, Asch. & Graebn. (Pyrus apetala, 

 Muenchh. P. dwica, Moench). BLOOMLESS APPLE. 

 Figs. 3284. 3285. Fls. with no colored petals, these 

 organs being represented by very small green bract-like 

 or sepal-like bodies, the sepals appearing, therefore, to 

 be in 2 rows; stamens absent; styles 10-15; ovary 

 6- or 7-celled, perhaps more: fr. (apparently produced 

 by pollination with other apples) much as in common 

 apples except for a deep not closed cavity at the apex, 

 there being one "core" above the other due probably 

 to the crowding of the many cells as the pistil grows; 

 as the apple grows, some or all the cores split open, and 

 cause the hole in the top of the fr.; in Fig. 3285, 6 and c 

 represent the persistent points of ruptured core-walls, 

 and a marks a thickened petal or bract that stood in the 

 fl. This monstrosity has been long known, and now 

 and then recurs. 



There are horticultural forms of P. Malus distin- 

 guished as : Var. aurea, Hort., with yellow-variegated 

 Ivs.: var. plena, Hort., with more or less double fls.; 

 var. pendula, Hort., of weeping or drooping habit. 



BB. Calyx falling from thefr. 



21. baccata, Linn. (Malus baccata, Borkh. Mains 

 microcarpa var. baccata, Carr. M. baccata var. sibirica, 

 Schneid.). SIBERIAN CRAB. Fig. 3288. Small round- 

 headed tree, with a compact crown, smooth in all its 

 parts at maturity; growth hard and wiry: Ivs. ovate to 



3285. Pyrus Malus var. apetala. The bloomless apple, 

 in longitudinal section. 



20. Soulardii, Bailey (Malus Souldrdii, Brit.). 

 SOT-LARD CRAB. Figs. 3286, 3287. Apparently natural 

 hybrids of P. Malus and P. ioensis: a small tree, with 

 much the look of an apple tree, and woolly: Ivs. large, 

 round-ovate to elliptic-ovate or oblong-ovate, either 

 rounded or tapering at the base, often very blunt or 

 even rounded at the top, mostly bluntly and coarsely 

 serrate or dentate when young, irregularly crenate- 

 dentate at maturity, with a tendency to become lobed, 

 on short pubescent petioles, thick and often rugose and 

 woolly beneath: fls. blush, in close woolly clusters like 

 those of the apple: fr. often 2 in. or even more in diam., 

 flattish lengthwise, yellow and often with a tinted cheek, 

 the basin shallow, flesh fairly edible. Wild in the Missis- 

 sippi Valley from Minn, to Texas, but always local 

 and in different forms of fr. Named for James G. 

 Soulard, Galena, 111., who intro. the first variety to 

 cult. In some forms the Ivs. become nearly smooth late 

 in the season and there is little tendency toward an 

 irregular notching or lobing of the margins. The tree is 

 hardy and the fr. keeps well and is useful for culinary 

 purposes. A few named varieties are grown in the upper 

 Mississippi Valley, where trees of great hardiness are 

 demanded. For accounts of the pomological offshoots 

 of our native apples, see Bailey, "Evolution of Our 

 Native Fruits," and Craig & Hume, "Native Crab 

 Apples and Their Cultivated Varieties," Iowa Acad. 

 Sci., 1899. 



182 



3286. Pyras SoulardiL 



ovate-lanceolate or ovate-acuminate, thin and glabrous, 

 on slender petioles, finely and nearly evenly serrate, 

 bright green: fls. appearing with the Ivs. on long and 

 very slender (2-3 in.) greenish pedicels, white, hand- 

 some; style mostly longer than the stamens, lightly hairy 

 or glabrous: fr. from the size of a pea to Min. diam., on 

 long, hard sts., yellow or red and firm and often trans- 

 lucent in texture, never becoming mellow, the calyx 

 falling away before maturity. Siberia to Manchuria and 

 N.China. B.M. 6112. M.D.G. 1899:454. Gt. 11:202. 

 Difficult to distinguish from P. pulcherrima: larger, 

 becoming a distinct tree, sometimes as large as a large 

 apple tree: Ivs. with blunter teeth, and usually much 

 longer, very slender, hard, glabrous petioles: fls. lighter 

 colored, usually white; vernation convolute (Ivs. rolled 

 in the bud). It runs into many forms, particularly in 

 fr. Var. mandshurica, Maxim. (Malus baccata var. 

 mandshurica, Schneid.). Low densely branched tree 

 when growing in the open but tall and wide-spreading 

 in forests: Ivs. broader, elliptic or round-elliptic, mostly 

 entire, the petiole, rib, and nerves, as well as infl., more 

 or less hairy: style scarcely as long as the stamens: fr. 

 elliptic, about J^jjin. diam. Amur region, Korea, Cent. 

 China, Japan. Var. himalaica, Maxim. (Malus baccata 

 var. himalaica, Schneid.). Lvs. very broad-oval, 

 coarsely serrate, more or less hairy underneath, particu- 

 larly on midrib. W. Himalaya. A handsome form from 

 Korea with pure white large fls., large dark green Ivs. 

 and large dark red fr., is dis- 

 tinguished by Rehder as forma 

 Jackii: from var. mandshurica 

 it differs in being glabrous. 

 The Siberian crabs of pomolo- 

 gists belong to P. baccata, but 

 to which of the several botani- 

 cal forms (if to any of them) 

 is not clearly determined; the 

 species is also used in cold 

 countries as a stock on which 

 to graft the common apple. 

 It is a species of great hardi- 

 ness, withstanding the climate 

 in the Canadian N. W. pro- 

 vinces. It is much subject to 

 blight (pear-blight) and for this 

 reason its usefulness is much 

 limited. Hybrids with P. 

 Malus promise a valuable type 

 3287. Mature leaf of Pyrus of apple for cold regions. See 

 Soulardii. (XJi) Fig. 648, Vol. I, and pp. 569 



