CHAP. XLII, 



921 



common mountain ash. On account of the brilliant colour of the fruit, 

 and the large si/e of the bunches in which it is produced, this species, or 

 race, well deserves a place in collections. 



30. P. MICROCA'RPA Dec. The small-fruited Service. 



Identification. Dec. Prod., 2. p. 636. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 648. 



Synoni/iih-s. .S'orbus aucujAria * Michx. PL Bor. Amer., 2. p. 291. ; S. micr&ntha Bum. Cows., ed. 2. 

 p. 464. ; S. microcarpa Ph. Fl. Amer. Sept., 1. p. 341. 



Spec. Char., Sec. Leaflets glabrous, acuminate, unequally incisely serrated ; the teeth tipped with a 

 bristle-like mucro. Petiole glabrous. Pome globose, scarlet. (Dec. Prod., ii. p. 637.) A native 

 of mountains of North America, from Carolina to New Caesarea, where it forms a low tree or large 

 shrub, growing to the height of 10 ft. According to Pursh, this species is very distinct from P. 

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

 dark brown gloss, and hy having small scarlet berries. We think that both this and the preceding 

 sort will ultimately prove only varieties, or races, of P. aucuparia. P. microcarpa has not yet 

 been introduced into Britain. 



2 31. P. SO'RBUS Gcertn. The True Service. 



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



Synonymes. S6rbus domestica Lin. Sp., 684. ; Pyrus domestica Smith in Eng. flat., t. 350., Wallr. 



Ann. JJot., 145., Don's Mill., 2. p. 648. ; the Whitty Pear Tree, the Sorb Tree; Cormier, or Sorbier 



cultive, Fr. ; Speyerlingsbaum, or Sperberbaum, Ger. ; Sorbo, Ital. 

 Engravings. Eng. Bot, 1 350. ; Gaertn. Fruct., 2. t. 87. ; our fig. 644.; and the plate in our Sixth Volume. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Buds glabrous, glutinous, acuminate. Leaflets serrated, 

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

 shaped. (Dec. Prod., ii. p. 637.) A tree of the middle size, a native of 

 Europe, chiefly of the middle region, and found also in some parts of Bar- 

 bary, particularly in the neighbourhood of Algiers. The only plants of the 

 species in its uncultivated state, which we know of in England, are in Wyre 

 Forest and the arboretum at Milford. 



Varieties. In Du Hamcl and the Dictionnaire des Eaux et Forets, eight 

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

 two following sorts are cultivated : 



* 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. 



Description. 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 ft. or 60 ft. : 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 

 pyramidal head. The bark of the trunk is smooth and grey, like that of the 

 mountain ash, in young trees ; and that of the smaller branches is slightly 

 reddish; but the bark of the trunk, in old trees, is rough, scaly, and full of 

 cracks, and its colour is a dark brown. This tree is readily known from the 

 mountain ash, in winter, by its buds, which are smooth and green, instead of 

 being downy and black ; in the beginning of summer, by its leaflets being 

 broader, downy above, and also beneath ; and, in autumn, by its pear or apple 

 shaped fruit, which is four or five times the size of that of P. aucuparia, and 

 of a dull greenish brown colour. It is said to be 30 years before it comes 

 into a bearing state when it is raised from the seed; but, when scions from 

 fruit-bearing trees are grafted on seedling plants, or on the mountain ash, 

 they come into bearing in a few years, as in the case of other fruit trees 

 (See Gard. Mag., iv. p. 487.) 



Geography, History, $c. The true service is not found in abundance in 

 any part of the world. There are, perhaps, more trees of it in the middle 

 region of France, and the Alps of Italy, than in all other countries put 

 together ; but it is also found in the south of German}' 1 , in some parts of 

 the north of Africa, and in Western Asia. It was formerly said to be a native 

 of different parts of Britain ; but in Smith's English Flora there is no positive 



* 3i> (] 



