360 



HENDEKSON'S HANDBOOK OF PLANTS 



PYR 



the following : Pyrus spectabilis, the Chinese 

 Crab or Garland-flowering Wild Apple, pro- 

 ducing the most showy flowers of the whole 

 genus in May, and as hardy as the common 

 Crab or Wild Pear. P. coronaria, the Sweet- 

 scented Crab, with large and beautiful pink 

 blossoms is highly fragrant, as is the first. 

 P. coronaria anqustifolia, the narrow-leaved 

 Sweet-scented Crab, has flowers as beautiful 

 as the former, and its leaves are sub-ever- 

 green. This and the two preceding kinds 

 have the fruit green when ripe, and fragrant, 

 but it is hardly edible. Pyrus baccata, and 

 P. prunifolia, two kinds of Siberian Crab, 

 have very showy flowers, and small red or 

 yellow fruit. These are the principal orna- 

 mental species of the Crab or Apple kind, 

 unless we except one, the Moscow or Trans- 

 parent Crab, Pyrus Astracanica, which has 

 fruit almost as large as a Golden Pippin, and 

 wax-like when ripe. The Crab, though com- 

 monly cultivated for its fruit, as useful for 

 the table, well deserves a place on the lawn 

 as an ornamental plant, from the extraordinary 

 beauty of the fruit, and it is sometimes used 

 for that purpose. The ornamental Pears are 

 the following : P. salvifolia, which has woolly 

 leaves like those of the Sage, and like all the 

 Pears, white flowers; this peculiarity, inde- 

 pendently of other marks, distinguishing 

 them from the Apples, which have reddish 

 flowers. P. amygdalceformis, is another orna- 

 mental species, which has silvery- white leaves, 

 and fruit shaped like that of the Almond ; and 

 to these may be added P. elceagnifolia, which 

 has long, narrow, white leaves like those of 

 the Elseagnus ; P. salicifolia^iih long, narrow, 

 silky leaves, like those of the Willow ; and P. 

 nivalw, which has round leaves of a snowy 

 whiteness. All these species have small 

 green fruit not good to eat, but the trees are 

 very ornamental from their shape and the 

 singular color of their foliage. The following 

 kinds of Pyrus belong to the section Aria : P. 

 Aria, and its varieties, P. a. angustifolia, and 

 P. a. cretica, the White Beam Tree, are valued 

 for the beauty of their leaves, which are 

 green above and white beneath, and for the 

 bright scarlet fruit which they produce in 

 great abundance. P. vestita, the Nepal White 

 Beam Tree, is a rare and beautiful object, as 

 its leaves, which are clothed with a thick 

 white wool beneath, are of a large size, and 

 change in autumn to a most beautiful pale 

 yellow. Other ornamental species of Pyrus 

 are as follows : P. variolosa, remarkable for 

 the varying forms of its foliage, which is 

 sometimes pinnate, like that of the Mountain 

 Ash, and sometimes deeply lobed and cut, like 

 that of the Hawthorn, or entire and cordate 

 and pointed like that of the Pear. It is some- 

 what tender, and thrives best in a sheltered 

 situation, or against a wall. P. torminalis, 

 the Griping Wild Service Tree, is remarkable 

 for the beautiful form of its leaves, which, 

 however, are unfortunately very apt to be 

 eaten by insects. The buds are large, of a 

 beautiful green, and very ornamental in the 

 winter season. Pyrus aucuparia, the Moun- 

 tain Ash, is a well-known small tree, beautiful 

 both when in flower and in fruit, and worth 

 cultivating for its foliage alone. Pyrus Ameri- 

 cana, the American Mountain Ash resembles 

 the common kind, but has larger leaves and 

 smaller fruit, although it is of a much deeper 



PYX 



red. Pyrus sorbus, the common Service Tree, 

 has foliage like that of the Mountain Ash, but 

 larger; and the fruit resembles that of the 

 common Pear but much smaller, and not 

 ornamental, though it is eatable. Pyrus 

 spuria, a native of Kamschatka, has leaves 

 like the Elder, and small black fruit; the 

 leaves of this species change in autumn to an 

 intensely deep purple, almost black. There 

 is a pendulous variety, P. 8. pendula, which is 

 one of the most ornamental of drooping-bran- 

 ched small trees ; and as neither the variety 

 nor the species exceeds twelve or fifteen feet 

 in height, they are admirably adapted for 

 small gardens. The following kinds of Pyrus 

 are shrubs, and very ornamental, both for 

 their fruit and flowers : P. Maulei, introduced 

 from Japan 1874, is one of the most beautiful 

 of recently introduced shrubs. English 

 papers compare it with Cydonia (Pyrus) Jap- 

 onica, which the flower does to some extent 

 resemble in form, though not quite so bright 

 a red as in the type of that species. In foliage 

 and habit it is more like the Cratcegus Pyra- 

 cantha, and like it, has a disposition to be 

 evergreen. Its golden-yellow fruit, which 

 are produced in great abundance, are agree- 

 ably perfumed and make an excellent conserve. 

 P. Arbutifolia,ha.s white flowers and black fruit, 

 and the leaves of this become of a beautiful 

 red in autumn ; there are six or eight varieties 

 commonly treated as species. All the plants 

 belonging to the genus Pyrus are quite hardy, 

 and may all be raised from seeds, or grafted 

 on the Wild Crab, or Wild Pear, or on the 

 Hawthorn, which, though belonging to the 

 genus Crateegus, is very nearly allied to Pyrus. 

 The most beautiful of all our scarlet-flowering 

 shrubs, now known as Cydonia Japonica, was 

 formerly classed in the genus Pyrus. Of thi& 

 species there is also a white variety. The 

 scarlet variety of Cydonia Japonica, makes a 

 most beautiful hedge plant, looking at a dis- 

 tance like a line of fire. 



Pythonium. From python, a serpent, on 

 account of the form of the spadix. Nat. Ord. 

 Aroidece. 



A genus of plant-stove, herbaceous plants, 

 with globular, fleshy root stocks ; closely 

 allied to Caladium. One species, C. Wallichia- 

 num, best known under the name of Arum 

 bulbiferum, is remarkable for the presence of 

 little bulb-like buds on the leaves, just at the 

 junction of the stalk with the blade of the 

 leaf. These bulbs become detached and thus 

 serve to perpetuate the species. This plant 

 has been described under the name of Thom- 



Pyxidanthe'ra. From pyxis, pyxidos, a box, 

 and anthera, an anther ; the anther opening as 

 if by a lid. Nat. Ord. Diapensiacece. 



P. barbulata, Pine-barren Beauty, or Little 

 Pixie, is a small, prostrate, creeping evergreen, 

 not over two inches in height. It is fairly 

 covered in early spring with its beautiful 

 white or pinkish flowers, forming a remark- 

 ably pretty little plant for the rock garden, or 

 any similar situation. It is very common in 

 the Sandy Pine barrens of New Jersey and 

 southward. 



Pyxis, Pyxidium. A pod opening round hori- 

 zontally by a lid, as in Hyoscyamus, or Andr 

 gallis. 



