STUDIES OF TREES IN WINTER 



poisoning by the Romans, and in England it is 



still taken, "after a surfeit of that vegetable," 



according to Loudon. The pear tree is a 



native of nearly all the elevated regions of 



Europe and Western Asia. Like the apple 



tree it was introduced into Britain by the 



Romans, and it is widely naturalized in the 



United States. 



,. ^ ■ . , A slender tree, or tall shrub, 20 

 Mountain Ash, 



or Rowan Tree to y^) feet high. Slender spread- 

 pyrus americana ■ ffrauclies With siHooth bark. 

 The tivigs are downy, becoming smooth and 

 brownish red in color. Large alternate leaf- 

 scars. The buds are pointed, reddish in color, 

 and guvzmy to the toiich. The itmcr scales of 

 the buds are coated with down. It has brioht 

 scarlet berry- like frtiit, which remains on the 

 tree through the wi)iter. 



The mountain ash is seldom associated in 

 our minds with apple and pear trees, but it 

 belongs to the same genus nevertheless, and 

 has absolutely nothing in common with the 

 ash tree, as one might suppose. The American 

 mountain ash is frequently planted as an orna- 

 mental tree, although the European species is 

 more often cultivated than ours. The buds of 

 the European mountain ash are blunter and 

 more downy than those of the American, the 



170 



