FOWLER S SERVICE TREE, OK MOUNTAIN ASH. 



83 



used for similar purposes. The leaves of this species are 

 cordate-ovate and pinnatifidly lobed, and, when young, 

 slightly downy beneath ; they are nearly four inches long 

 and three inches broad in the middle. The fruit, which, 

 when ripe, is of a brownish red colour, is produced in large 

 terminal bunches, the berries round and compressed, and 

 when in a state of incipient decay similar to the medlar 

 in flavour, and are brought to market both in England and 

 France. It is of slow growth and lives to a great age. 



As for the Pyrus sorbus. True Service tree, it is so rarely 

 met with in Britain, and seems so difficult to proj)agate, 

 from its fastidiousness as to soil and situation, that we 

 cannot even admit it into our Sylva as a tree long intro- 

 duced, much less as a native, to which it appears to have 

 no claims, whatever. It reaches a greater size and height 

 than any of the other species, and its wood possesses 

 qualities of the same nature, being hard, heavy, and com- 

 pact in texture. 



