
OF WYRE FOREST. 195 
The general habitat, mountainous forests, would naturally signify 
that it is a native production of such places. The moorlands of 
Staffordshire is a locality somewhat more precise, but this, it ap- 
pears, was not confirmed in Purton’s time, and certainly has not 
been verified since. Not one of the authors quoted, from Hud- 
son to the author of ‘English Botany’ inclusive, saw the tree, 
and hence were incapable of noting the circumstances under 
which it grew. With the exception (honourable it may be called) 
of our earlier botanists, Gerarde, Johnson, Parkinson, and per- 
haps Ray, all the localities or habitats for this curious object 
appear to have grown out of Ray’s notice as above. 
The montibus nemorosis of Hudson doubtless was derived from 
_ Ray, and the moorlands of Staffordshire may have originated in 
Wyre Forest, which is near Staffordshire, if not actually in that 
county. Itis probable that the “‘ mountainous parts of Cornwall” 
is a mistake; although Cornwall is more likely to produce the 
tree than the moorlands of Stafford are. 
Fames crescit eundo. We hope our readers will remember 
the story of the three black crows, and make a right application 
of the moral which it pomts. It could hardly be credited by the 
readers of Hudson, Withering, Purton, Smith, etc., that there 
was but one individual tree of the sort in Britain, and in all 
probability that one not native. That there are many native 
trees in Wyre Forest, is a fact which no one who has been there 
can doubt, but that the Sorb is one of them is very doubtful. 
This is not the only tree of this species growing in England, but 
it is the only one which has been considered by botanists as 
native, although i¢ in all probability has no more claim to that 
distinction than the other examples of this tree, known to have 
been raised in nurseries and planted im the stations where they 
now grow. It is hardly credible that one single genuine native 
could or would exist in a single spot, and remain solitary, having 
abundant means and room for extension. Apple-trees abound in 
the Worcestershire hedges, and increase by seedlings. Pear-trees 
are not altogether unknown in similar localities, only they are in 
request for grafting-stocks, and on this account are often grubbed 
up, while the former are suffered to remain. The Sorb of Wyre 
Forest has produced fruit for hundreds of years, and does still 
produce a little, but we have never heard of a scedling-plant 
being found either in proximity to or remote from the parent 
