193 
Some Notices of the Sors Tree of Wyre Forest, Worcester- 
shire. (See Engraving.) 
The Sorb-tree, Pyrus domestica, of which we have the pleasure 
of presenting a characteristic drawing to our subscribers, is gene- 
rally said to be the only one in England, and therefore has been 
an object of no ordinary interest to all British botanists. The 
drawing communicated to us was made on the spot by our oblig- 
ing correspondent, who sent us a brief account of the vegetation 
of the forest where this British rarity still exists. The following 
extract from Gerarde’s description of this tree, page 14:70, ren- 
ders it doubtful if he knew it as wild. ‘‘ These trees,” says he, 
(both Pyrus domestica and P. torminalis,) “are found in woods 
and groves in most places of England ; there be many small trees 
in a little wood a mile beyond Islington, by London. In Kent 
it groweth in great abundance, especially about Southfleet and 
Gravesend.” To this Johnson adds, “ The latter of these I have 
seen growing wild in divers places, but not the former at any 
time as yet.”” Parkinson, in his ‘ Theatre of Plants,’ pages 1420, 
1421, is more explicit: “The first (P. domestica) is seen with us 
but in a few places, and these only planted for their rarity. The 
second (P. torminalis) is found in many places in England.” 
The first extant notice of this tree, in a botanical work, is in 
Ray’s ‘Synopsis,’ where it is said to have been found by Alder- 
man Pitt, of Worcester, in a forest of that county. 
Hudson enumerates and describes the Sorb as one of the 
spontaneous vegetable productions of Britain, and adds, “ Habi- 
tat in montibus nemorosis. In the mountainous parts of Corn- 
wall, Walter Moyle, Esq.; on the moorlands of Staffordshire, D. 
Plot. R. Syn. (Ray’s Synopsis), 2/ iv. v. Pharmac. Sorbi Fruc- 
tus (the fruit is employed in pharmacy). It is also noticed 
by Withering, though it is very doubtful if he ever saw the tree. 
He refers to Gerarde and Parkinson; and after describing it, he 
gives the following stations :—‘‘ Mountainous forests. Moun- 
tainous parts of Cornwall, and the moorlands of Staffordshire.” 
[In the middle of a thick wood in the forest of Wire, near 
Bewdley, Worcestershire, one mile from Mopson’s Cross, be- 
tween that and Dowles Brook, found by Mr. Pitt, alderman of 
Worcester.] Purton, in his ‘ Midland Flora,’ observes: ‘ In the 
middle of a thick wood in the forest of Wire, near Bewdley, in 
N.S. VOL, I. ae 
