244 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



inch long, sub-globular, crowned by the connivent persistent but 

 •withering calyx-segments, Avoolly at the base and apex, sprinkled 

 with a few impressed dots. Seeds 1 or 2 in each cell. 



Common White-beam. 

 French, Alisier Alouchier. German, MeJdbeere. 



This tree rises to a height of thirty or forty feet in favo\irable situations. The 

 roots descend very deep and spread very wide, and the head of the tree is less affected 

 by cutting winds than many others. It grows in the most exposed situations on bleak 

 chalk hills, but is always stiff and erect. It has been known to writers on plants 

 since the days of Theophrastus, and the fact that it has a distinct name in all the 

 European languages shows that it has long been familiar to country people. Dr. Prior 

 informs us that the word beam means simply a tree. It is called White-beam from the 

 ■white down on the young shoots and under-surface, of the leaves ; but " beam-tree," as 

 it is often given, without the " white," is a vague and silly term. 



As an ornamental tree the White-beam has very valuable properties. It is of 

 moderate size and definite shape, and in summer, when clothed with leaves, it forms a 

 compact green mass till it is ruffled by the wind, when it assumes a mealy whiteness. 

 In the winter season the tree is attractive from its smooth branches and its large greeo 

 buds, which, from their size and colour, seem already prepared for the spring, and 

 remind us of the approach of that delightful season. When the tree is covered with 

 frnit, it is exceedingly ornamental. The wood is very hard, of a fine close grain, 

 yellowish-white, and susceptible of a high polish. It may be stained of any colour, and 

 is much used in the manufacture of small articles, — such as handles to knives and forks, 

 wooden spoons, (fee. Combs, it is said, made from it equal those of boxwood. The 

 great use, however, to which this wood is applied is for cogs to the wheels of machinery. 

 It was always employed for this purpose, both abroad and at home, until cast iron super- 

 seded it. The fruit, when dried and reduced to powder, has been formed into a kind 

 of bread, which has been eaten both in France and Sweden in times of scarcity. Fer- 

 mented, the fruit affords a beer ; distilled, a powerful spirit. It is greedily eaten 

 by small birds ; on which account the trees are preserved by our neighbours the 

 French, in order to increase the number of these little creatures which we destroy, so 

 that they may keep down the insects which attack the crops. 



Sub-Species II.— Pyrus rupicola 



Plate CCCCLXXXIII. 



P. Aria, Ehrh. (in part). Bab. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. v. p. 117 ; et Auct. Flur. 



Cratsegus Aria (in part), Linn. Sp. Plant, p. C8I. 



Sorbus oblongifolia, Iieich, Fl. Germ, exsicc. No. 2252 (!). 



tjorbus Aria, var. salicifolia, " Myrin" Fries, Sum. Veg. Scand. pp. 42, 176. 



Leaves oblanceolate-obovate or oblong-obovate, pure white- 

 felted beneath, glabrous above by the time the flowers expand, 

 narrowed towards the base, generally with numerous small lobes 

 from the middle to the apex, incisions deepest at the apex ; lobes 

 broader than long, blunt or sub-acute, directed towards the apex. 



