I'yym.] ROSACEA. 167 



when we consider tlie twofold interpretation implied in the specific name, by some 

 alleged to bear reference to the efficiency of these berries in cases of dysentery ; 

 by others, with whom, like Withering, we are from experience compelled to coin- 

 cide, pronounced highly befitting a fruit qualified to cause rather than cure the 

 disease in question. The leaves lade into the richest tints of red or purple before 

 they fall. '^ '^ 



The largest Wild Service-tree in the island with which I am acquainted stands 

 in Quarr copse, about 20 yards from the Binstead entrance, on the left hand, and 

 perhaps a dozen yards from the main path, overhanging a deep hollow. The girth 

 of this tree at about 2 feet from the ground I found to be 6 ft. II in. ; at 3 feet 

 it measured 5 ft. 6 in. ; and at 6 feet, 5 ft. 2 in. : its height I estimate at little under 

 40 ft. ; the large, rounded, oak-like head, spreading limbs and leaning trunk ren- 

 der it a very picturesque object, and especially so when clothed in the gorgeous 

 covering of autumn. The specimen is probably of great age, and, though flower- 

 ing freely, fruits but sparingly. Trees sufficiently large or old for bearing are 

 indeed seldom to be met with in our woods, from its being cut periodically with 

 the copse-wood. 



This species has long been and still is strangely confounded with the true Ser- 

 vice-tree (P. domestica), a very dififerent kind, with much larger, pear-shaped fruit, 

 and pinnated leaves like those of tha Mountain Ash, but which there is no reason 

 to believe was ever found wild in Brifciin, and certainly is not so with us, though 

 described as common in the Isle of Wight, our P. torminalis having been uni- 

 formly mistaken for it, and the error perpetuated by the similarity of names, and 

 unscrutinizing habits of compilers. 



The Wild Service-tree is not a native of either Scotland or Ireland. 



4. P. Aria, Sm. White Beam-tree. Vect. Whipcrop, White 

 Rice* " Leaves ovate serrated cut or pinnatifid or partly pin- 

 nate white and downy beneath, flowers corymbose, fruit globose." 

 Br. Fl. p. 134. E. B. t. 1858. 



In high, rocky, precipitous woods an4 elevated chalky thickets ; not unfrequent 

 in East Medina ; very rare in West Medina and in the flatter parts of the island 

 generally. Fl. May, June. 



E. Med. — Woods near the Priory, sparingly. In Luccombe copse and other 

 high woods along the road from Shanklin to Bonohurcb. Eagle -head and 

 Bloodstone copses. On the rocks overhanging East end at its entrance near 

 Rosecliff cottage, and plentiful along the brow of the wooded sleep called Hatchet 

 Close or Cowpit Clifl', between Shanklin and Cook's Castle, in both stations as a 

 tree, truly wild and springing from the crevices of the rock, with the trunk and 

 roots singularly contorted. Wood by America. Youngvvood's copse, near Alver- 

 stone, and where there is one tree with a regular rounded head and of consider- 

 able size. Common in a copse on the northern side of Wroxall down, about 

 Wroxall farm. Near Brading, il/r. S. Woods in Bot. Guide. A solitary tree in 

 the hedge on the right hand side of the road a short distance from the ' Star ' inn 

 at Rookley, towards Bleak Down. 



A large shrub or small tree,-!" with a smooth reddish brown bark, and straight 



* The White Rice of our country people, from the silvery colour of the leaves 

 beneath, and its usually low stature. Rice being a Hampshire term for brushwood 

 or undergrowth, dmibtless from the German or Teutonic iJm ; the same ortho- 

 graphy should perhaps be adopted in the English. The long, straight and very 

 tough shoots are cut for whip-handles by waggoners. 



When in the S. of Ireland in 1842, this species was shoun to me as the Ser- 

 vice-tree by the boatmen on the Lakes of Killarney, where neither the true Ser- 

 vice (/*. domestica) nor the Wild Service (P. torminalis) of this island are 

 indigenous. 



-)- A tree of P. Aria in Youngwood's copse measured, in 1846, at 3J feet from the 



