CRAB APPLE 



CRAB APPLE. FRAGRANT CRAB 



Pyrus cof'onaj-ia 



Pyrus is the classical name of the pear tree, which was adopted 

 by Linnsus for this genus. 



Often a bushy shrub with rigid, contorted branches but frequently 

 becomes a small tree with a broad open head. Prefers rich moist 

 soil; is most abundant in the middle and western states, reaches its 

 greatest size in the valleys of the lower Ohio basin. 



Bark. — Reddish brown, longitudinally fissured, with surface sepa- 

 rating in narrow scales. Branchlets at first coated with thick white 

 tomentum, later they become smooth reddish brown ; they develop 

 in their second year long, spur-like branches and sometimes absolute 

 thorns an inch or more in length. 



Wood. — Reddish brown, sapwood yellow; heavy, close-grained, 

 not strong. Used for the handles of tools and small domestic arti- 

 cles. Sp. gr., 0.7048 ; weight of cu. ft., 43.92. 



Wiiiler Buds. — Bright red, obtuse, minute. Inner scales grow 

 with the growing shoot, become half an inch long and bright red 

 before they fall. 



Leaves. — Alternate, simple, ovate, three to four inches long, one 

 and one-half to two inches broad, obtuse, subcordate or acute at 

 base, incisely serrate, often three-lobed on vigorous shoots, acute at 

 apex. Feather-veined, midrib and primary veins grooved above, 

 prominent beneath. They come out of the bud involute, red bronze, 

 tomentose and downy ; when full grown are bright dark green above, 

 paler beneath. In autumn they turn yellow. Petioles slender, long, 

 often with two dark glands near the middle. Stipules filiform, half 

 an inch long, early deciduous. 



Flowers. — May, June, when leaves are nearly grown. Perfect, rose- 

 colored, fragrant, one and one-half inch to two inches across. Borne 

 in five or six-flowered umbels on slender pedicels. 



Calyx. — Urn-shaped, downy or tomentose, five-lobed ; lobes slen- 

 der, acute, persistent, imbricate in bud. 



Corolla. — Petals five, rose colored, obovate, rounded above, with 

 long narrow claws, undulate or crenulate at margin, inserted on the 

 calyx tube, imbricate in bud. 



Stamens. — Ten to twenty, inserted on the calyx tube, shorter than 

 the petals ; filaments by a partial twist forming a tube narrowed in 

 the middle and enlarged above ; anthers introrse, two-celled; cells 

 opening longitudinally. 



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