ROSACEA. 235 



There are two derivations given for the name of this genus. One author says it 

 conies from /jto-oc (mesos), a half, and ttiXoc {pilos), a bullet, from the fruit resembling 

 lialf a bullet. Another gives as the oi-igiu the words /uecror, middle, and irikiw, I 

 bind together, referring to the astringent qualities of the species. 



SPECIES I.-MESPILUS GERMANICA. Linn. 

 Plate CCCCLXXVIII. 



Branches spinous in the wild plant. Leaves shortly stalked, 

 oblong-oblaneeolate, abruptly acuminated, entire or finely serrated, 

 slightly pubescent beneath. Flowers shortly stalked, solitary. 



In hedges and thickets. Rare, and dovibtfully native. The 

 counties to which it has most claim are those of Sussex, Kent, 

 Surrey, and Worcester ; it is found also in Devonshire, but is 

 acknowledged to be planted. I have only met with it near 

 lleigate, Surrey, where it appears to me not to have the slightest 

 claim to be considered native. 



England ? Tree. Early Summer. 



A large shrub, more rarely a tree, with spreading tortuous 

 branches, many of them armed with spines. Leaves unequal in 

 size, the largest close to the flowers, where they are from 2 to 4 

 inches long. Flowers 1^ inch in diameter. Pedicels very short, 

 felted-pubescent. Calyx-segments deltoid, attenuated into a long 

 linear foliaceous point, exceeding the petals. Petals obovate, 

 roundish. Styles 5. Fruit depressed, turbinate, f inch acro.s.s or 

 more, rarely produced in the wild plant, slightly downy, reddish 

 brown, containing 5 compressed rugose stones, embedded in rather 

 dry pulji. 



TTild Medlar. 



French, Nefiier Comviun. German, Deutsche MispeL 



The Medlar-tree was known to the Greeks, and has been in cultivation in British 

 gardens for an indefinite period ; not only the species but several varieties being men- 

 tioned by Turner, Gerarde, Parkinson, and other early British writers on botany and 

 gardening. The fniit is never eaten until it is in an incipient state of decay : when firm 

 and sound, they are singularly harsh and austere, but acquire a flavour agreeable to 

 many by being kept. The fruit should be gathered towards the end of October or 

 November, -when some should be laid in moist bran to hasten their decay, others on 

 straw ; those in the bran will be ready for eating in about a fortnight, and those 

 laid on straw will gradually come forward in succession. In the North of England 

 the fruit seldom ripens, though it blossoms freely. Loudon tells us that in some of the 

 old gardens about Twickenham there are JNIedlar-trees growing from 2.5 to 30 feet in 

 height, with heads from 30 to 40 feet in diametb." lu Bagshot Park, in Surrey, one 

 planted twenty years ago is 18 feet high. 



