250 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS 



necessary to take a brief survey of the various indige- 

 nous stocks. 



The Indigenous Species 



We will first simplify our account by disposing of 

 the Oregon crab, since it is not in cultivation for its 

 fruit. This species ranges from Alaska to northern 

 California. It is the largest -growing species of native 

 apple, making a tree twenty-five to forty feet high. It 

 received its name, Pyrus rivularis — the "creek Pyrus" 

 — from Douglas in 1883. The species is more like 

 the Old World apples, especially the Siberian crab, 

 than our other indigenous apples. The leaves are 

 ovate and apple -like in shape, usually smooth, and 

 only rarely notched or lobed, but uniformly finely 

 serrate. The little fruits are oblong, three -fourths 

 inch or less long, with a scant, dryish flesh, and yel- 

 low or reddish in color, ripening in September and 

 October. The calyx falls before the fruit is fully ripe, 

 as it does in the Siberian crab. According to Sar- 

 gent, "the fruit, which has a pleasant subacid flavor 

 when fully ripe, is gathered and consumed by the 

 Indians." He quotes Roberl Brown as follows: "The 

 fruit of the crab-apple (Pyrus rivularis) is prepared 

 for food by being wrapt iii Leaves and preserved in 



bags all winter. When the apples have become sweet. 

 they are cooked by digging a hole in the ground, 

 covering it over thickly with green leaves and a layer 

 of earth or sand, and then kindling a fire above 

 them." Wickson, in his "California Fruits." speaks 

 of specimens of this crab tree "with bodies one toot 

 in diameter, with spreading tops, loaded with small. 



