110 ICOSANDRIA PENTAGYNIA. 



149. PYRUS. 



1. P. MaluS) leaves simple, serrated, more or less elliptical 

 flowers in a simple sessile umbel. Crab-tree. 



Hob. Hedges, common. May. \\ 



2. P. Aucupaiia, leaves pinnate, leaflets uniform, serrated, 

 smooth; flowers corymbose; styles about 3; fruit globular. 

 Hoan-tree. 



Hob. Woods. At the base of Cheviot. May. ?j 



" It is probable that this tree was in high esteem with the 

 Druids ; for it may to this day be observed to grow more 

 frequently than any other in the neighbourhood of those 

 Druidical circles of stones, so often seen in North Britain ; 

 and the superstitious still continue to retain a great vene- 

 ration for it, which was undoubtedly handed down to them 

 from early antiquity. They believe that any small part 

 of this tree carried about them, will prove a sovereign 

 charm against all the dire effects of jenchantment or 

 witchcraft. Their cattle also, as well as themselves, are 

 supposed to be preserved by it from evil ; for the dairy, 

 maid will not forget to drive them to the shealings or 

 summer pastures with a rod of the Rowan-tree, which she 

 carefully lays up over the door of the sheal-boothy, or 

 summer-house, and drives them home again with the 

 same." This superstitious belief prevailed also in Nor- 

 thumberland, but is now probably extinct. In the Island 

 of Jura they use the juice of the berries as an acid for 

 punch ; and, in some places, the Highlanders distil a very 

 good spirit from them. LIGHTFOOT " Ale and beer 

 brewed with these berries, being ripe, is an incomparable 

 drink, familiar in Wales, where this tree is reputed so sa- 

 cred, that there is not a churchyard without one of them 

 planted in it." EVELYN. 



150. SPIRJEA. 



1. S. ulmaria, stem herbaceous; leaves interruptedly pinnate, 

 lawny beneath, the terminal leaflet largest and lobed; flowers 

 rymose, with many styles, cream-coloured. Meadow-sweet. 



Hob. Moist meadows and banks of rivulets. July. 7/ 



