THE PEAR TREE. 



607 



is seen ; it is of the palest green and coated with wool that is nearly 

 white. As the leaves unroll, the more brilliant green of the silky 

 upper surface is seen. The fully developed leaf has a pale greenish- 

 yellow stalk nearly as long as itself The leal-blade is hardly at all 

 puckered, and the two halves either lie quite flat or form a wide V 

 with the mid-rib in the centre. Except on vigorous upright shoots, 

 when they point upwards, the leaves usually droop. The glossy 

 upper surface of the young foliage becomes dulled as the year goes 

 on, the underside keeping its paler green. The mid-rib which bisects the 

 dark blade is light green, but the smaller veins which cover the 

 under-side with an intricate pattern are dark-coloured, though they 

 show up paler when the sun shines through the leaf. The leaves 

 are arranged singly on the shoot, but the shoot is often so much 

 dwarfed that they appear to radiate from a circle round the bud. A 

 pair of stipules at the base of each leaf have usually withered before 

 the flowers are set. Pear Tree leaves are about two or three inches 

 long, slightly serrated and sharply pointed. 



THE FLOWER AND FRUIT. 



The flower-head lies in the cup of scroll-like leaves, supported 

 by a short downy main-stalk of pale-green. From different points 



on the main-stalk spring other thinner stalks, 

 each bearing a floret. The central stalk of 

 these secondary ones continues the direction 

 of the main-stalk, and is the longest, so that 

 the group of florets has a hemisperical out- 

 line. Before the florets expand, the petals 

 form a white hall, set round with pointed 

 sepals, and below these is the swollen calyx 

 floret shows five pure white petals, and is 



tube. The expanded 



