Pyrus 



1577 



2. Van lanuginosa, Ascherson and Graebner, op. cit. 88 (1906). 



Sorbus lanuginosa, Kitaibel, Schult. Oest. Fl. ii. 50 (18 14). 

 Pyrus lanuginosa, De CandoUe, Prod. ii. 637 (1827), 



Buds, branchlets, and leaves very tomentose, the pubescence remaining on the 

 leaflets till autumn, and^ on the branchlets till the second year. This is prevalent in 

 the plains and on the low hills of south-eastern Europe. 



II. Several varieties with peculiar fruit are known : — 



3. Var. dulcis, Kratzl, in Wiener I llust. Gartenzeit. 1885, p. 65. 



Var. moravica, Zengerling, ex Dippel, Laubhohkunde, iii. 367 (1893). 



Fruit sweet, larger than in the type. The leaflets are remarkable, being long 

 and narrow, with the serrations confined to near the apex. 



This tree was found wild about the year 1800, in a mountain forest of the Sporn- 

 hau parish in northern Moravia,^ and was subsequently propagated by grafting. It 

 was introduced^ in 1885 in Sweden, where it has proved very hardy, ripening its 

 fruit as far north as lat. 66°, where no other fruit tree can be cultivated. A tree at 

 Kew, about 15 ft. high, was obtained from Spath in 1900. 



4. Var. rossica, Spath, in Mitt. Deut. Dend. Ges., 1896, p. 196; Koehne, in 

 Gartenflora, L., 412 (1901). 



Fruit sweet, leaflets as in the type. This is said to be planted in southern 

 Russia, where at Kiev the berries, powdered with sugar and packed in little boxes, 

 are sold and exported. This variety, which I have not seen, was introduced by 

 Spath in 1896. 



5. Var. Fifeana, Dippel, Laubhohkunde, iii. 367 (1893). Fruit yellow. The 

 origin of this tree, which was called var. fructu luteo by Loudon, is unknown. There 

 is a handsome specimen at Kew. 



III. The following varieties are peculiar in habit or foliage : — 



6. Var. fastigiata, Loudon, loc. cit. Branches upright. This originated in 

 Hodgins's nursery at Dunganstown in Co. Wicklow. 



7. Vax. pendula, Kirchner, Arb. Muse. 293 (1864). Branches very pendulous. 

 This when grafted six or eight feet high, makes a graceful tree. Beissner ^ describes 

 and figures a remarkable weeping tree in the churchyard of Wiesbaden ; the branches 

 are interlaced and twisted to an extraordinary degree. 



8. Var. integerrima, Koehne, in Gartenflora, L., 411 (1901), and Mitt. D. Dend. 

 Ges. 1906, p. 55. Leaflets entire in margin, the upper three occasionally united 

 together. This was found * in the Jena Botanic Garden, and is possibly a hybrid, 

 though the flowers differ in no respect from those of P. Aucuparia. 



9. Var. asplenifolia, Koch, Dendrologie, i. 189 (1869). Leaflets irregularly 

 and deeply toothed. This is represented at Kew by a tree obtained from Dale in 

 1899; and appears to differ slightly from var. laciniata, Beissner, in Gartenwelt, iii. 



1 Cf. Willkomm, Forstl. Flora, 863 (1887). ^ cf. Hartman, in Garden and Forest, 1895, p. 162. 



5 In Mitt. Deut. Dend. Ges. 191 1, pp. 246 and 247. 

 * Lange, Danske Flora, iii. 370 (1864), describes a similar plant, found wild in the island of Bornholm. 



