44-2 



ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



which it is distinguished by the young branches being covered with a shining 

 dark brown gloss, and by having small scarlet berries. We have never seen it. 



t 32. P. SO'RBUS Gcertn. The True Service. 



Identification. Gsertn. Fruct., 2. p. 45. t. 87. ; .Dec. Prod., 2. p. 637. 



Synonymes. S6rhus domestica Lin. Sp. 6H4. ; Pyrus domestica Smith in Eng. Bot. t. 350., Wallr. 



Ann. Bot. 145., Don's Mitt. 2. p. 648. ; the Whitty Pear Tree ; Cormier, or Sorbier cultive, Fr. ; 



Speyerlingsbaum, or Sperherbaum, Ger. ; Sorbo domestico, Ital. 

 Engravings, Eng. Bot., t. 350. ; Gaertn. Fruct., 2. t. 87. ; the plate in Arb. Brit., 1st edit., vol. vi. ; 



and our Jig. 792. 



792. P. Sdrbus. 



Spec. Char., fyc. Buds glabrous, glutinous, acuminate. Leaflets serrated, vil- 

 lose beneath, but becoming naked when old. Pome obovate, pear-shaped. 

 (Dec. Prod.) A tree of the middle size. Europe, chiefly of the middle 

 region ; found also in some parts of Barbary, particularly in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Algiers ; and by some considered a native of Britain. Height 

 30 ft. to 60 ft. Flowers white ; May. Fruit brown ; October. Decaying 

 leaves yellowish brown. Naked young wood grey, like that of the com- 

 mon mountain ash. 



Varieties. In Du Hamel and the Dictionnaire des Eaux et Forets, eight vari- 

 eties of the true service are described ; but in British gardens only the two 

 following sorts are cultivated : 



*t P. S. 2 ma/iformis Lodd. Cat., la Corme-Pomme, Fr., has apple-shaped 

 fruit. Of this variety there are trees which bear abundantly in the 

 Horticultural Society's Garden, and in the Hackney Arboretum. 

 % P. S. 3 pyriformis Lodd. Cat., la Corme-Poire, Fr., has pear-shaped 

 fruit ; and of this, also, there are fruit-bearing trees in the places 

 above referred to. 



A tree, in foliage and general appearance, closely resembling the mountain 

 ash ; but attaining a larger size, and bearing much larger fruit, of a greenish 

 brown colour when ripe. In France this tree attains the height of 50 or 

 60 feet : it requires two centuries before it reaches its full size ; and lives to 

 so great an age, that some specimens of it are believed to be upwards of 1000 

 years old. It grows with an erect trunk, which terminates in a large pyrami~ 

 dal head. This tree is readily known from the mountain ash, in winter, by 



