STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 473 



P. aucuparia Ehrh. mountain ash. quickbeam. rowan tree. 



Europe and northern Asia. This species is a native of Europe but is cultivated for 

 ornament in America and, in France, is grafted on the service tree to increase the size 

 of the berries. The round fruit is small, scarlet, very juicy, sour and bitter but, when made 

 into a jam, is called palatable. In Wales and the Scottish Highlands, in Livonia, Sweden 

 and Kamchatka, the berries are eaten when ripe as a fruit, and a liquor is produced from 

 the femented berries. In various parts of the north of Etirope, in times of scarcity, the 

 dried fruitf is ground into a meal and is used as a bread-food. 



P. baccata Linn. Siberian crab. 



Himalayan region and northern Asia. This species is cultivated in our gardens for 

 ornament and is highly esteemed for preserving.' The fruit, in India, says Brandis,^ 

 is small and sour but palatable, with a true apple flavor. It is much prized by the Hill 

 People. 



P. betulaefolia Bunge. birch-leaved pear. 



China. .The flowers, leaves and fruit are edible. It was noted in China in the four- 

 teenth century.' 



P. communis Linn. pear. 



Europe, northern Asia and the Himalayan region. The pear is a native of Europe 

 and the Caucasian countries. It has been in cxilfivation from time immemorial. The 

 fruit tree figured in one of the tombs at Guma seems to belong here, and Heer * states that 

 a small-fruited kind appears in the debris of the earliest lake villages of Switzerland. 

 Unger ' states that pears were raised in the gardens of the Phoenicians, and Thasos was 

 celebrated in ancient times on account of the excellence of its pears. The primitive festival 

 of the Ballachrades of the Argives with the wild pear (achras) had reference to this first 

 article of food of their forefathers. The Jews were acquainted with greatly improved 

 varieties, but the Romans first occupied themselves more closely with its cultivation and 

 produced niunerous sorts.* Theophrastus ' knew 3 kinds of pears; Cato,* 6; Pliny,' 41; 

 and Palladius,'" 56. Targioni-Tozzetti '^ says that in Tuscany, under the Medici, in 

 a manuscript list of the fruits served at the table of the Grand Duke Cosmo III, is an 

 envuneration of 209 different varieties, and another manuscript of that time raises the 

 nimiber to 232. In Britain, in 1640, 64 kinds were cultivated,'* and in 1842 more than 700 



' Downing, A. J. Fr. Fr. Trees Amer. 228. 1857. 

 ' Brandis, D. Forest Fl. 205. 1874. 

 Bretschneider, E. Bot. Siv. 52. 1882. 



De CandoUe, A. Orig. Pis. Cult. 231. 1885. 

 Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 344. 1859. 



Ibid. 

 ^ Ibid. 



Ibid. 

 Ibid. 



Ibid. 



" Targioni-Tozzetti Journ. Hort. Soc. Land. 9:159. 1855. 



" Mcintosh, C. Book Card. 2:447. 1855. 



