THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 73 
species is sometimes under cultivation in France for the fruits which make 
very good perry, and when bletted, as is the medlar, are suitable for dessert. 
In Austria and adjoining parts of Germany, the species is somewhat 
cultivated for the same purposes as in France under the name Schnee birn 
or Snow pear, because not fit to eat until snow falls. This pear might 
have value to hybridize with common pears for the improvement of their 
fruit. 
Botanists are not quite certain of the botanical standing of P. nivalis. 
By some botanists it is considered a cultivated form of P. eleagrifolia Pallas. 
By others it is thought to be a cross of which P. communis is one parent. 
P. salvifolia De Candolle is either closely allied to or identical with this 
species. P. kotschyana Boissier differs from P. nivalis chiefly in having 
smaller and harder fruits. P. eleagrifolia Pallas is distinguished by some 
botanists from P. kotschyana only by its spiny branches — not a constant 
character. 
3. PYRUS AURICULARIS Knoop 
1. Pomol. 2:38. 1763. 
2. P. irregularis Muenchhausen Hausvater §:246. 1770. 
3- P. pollveria Linnaeus Mant. 2:244. 1771. 
4. P. bollwyleriana De Candolle Fl. France Suppl. §:530. 1815. 
A tree 30 to 50 ft. high, forming a round head; branchlets and buds downy. Leaves 
ovate or oval, 3 to 4 in. long, 2 to 23 in. wide; pointed, irregular, and coarsely and some- 
times doubly toothed; upper surface glossy, dark green, with glands on the midrib, 
glabrous at maturity, downy when young; lower surface permanently covered with gray 
tomentum; stalk 1 to 1} in. long, woolly. Flowers white, nearly 1 in. across, 5 to 20 in 
tomentose corymbs; sepals covered with pure white wool on both surfaces; styles 2 to 5, 
united and tomentose at the base; stamens rosy red. Fruit pyriform, 1 to 1} in. in 
diameter; stalk 1 to 13 in. long, reddish yellow; flesh yellow, sweet. 
This tree is an interesting hybrid between P. communis and the 
whitebeam, P. aria. It was first noticed at Bollweiler, Alsace, and was 
first mentioned by J. Bauhin in 1619. It is propagated by grafts as few 
of the seeds are fertile and these do not come true to name. It bears fruit 
very sparingly, none being produced in some seasons. 
Besides the species that have been named there are several other 
occidental pears named by European botanists which may be looked for 
in botanic gardens. Some of these might have value for work in hybridiza- 
tion but it is doubtful. Of these, P. heterophylla Regel and Schmalhausen 
(Act. Hort. Petropol 5:pt. ii, 581. 1878) is a small thorny tree from the 
mountain valleys of Turkestan. P. amygdaliformis Villars (Cat. Meth. 
