THE SERVICH-TREE. 
Py'rus tormina’lis Ehrh. 
In addition to the Apples and Pears and the Medlar 
the genus Pyrus comprises some ten kinds of British 
trees. To all of these the name Service-tree may be 
applied, since they constitute the sub-genus Sorbus, 
and the name “Service,” which might be supposed 
to be in some way connected with the Latin cerevi’- 
sia, beer, is merely a corruption of Sorbus. Virgil 
uses the word sorbum for a fruit, and Pliny men- 
tions four kinds of tree under the name Sorbus, all 
of which are probably members of the group as 
now recognised by botanists. The characters of 
the sub-genus are that the fruit is small, often 
having less than five chambers, the styles being 
accordingly from two to five in number, that the 
core is brittle, and that the flowers are small, white, 
and in branching, but flat-topped or “corymbose,” 
clusters. The leaves may be simple, but are gener- 
ally either deeply notched or pinnately compound. 
Of the ten British forms which have been 
described, three only are at all commonly met with, 
the Wild Service, P. torminalis Ehrh., the White 
Beam, P. A’ria Ehrh., and the Rowan, Mountain 
Ash, or Fowlers’ Service-tree, P. Aucupa’ria .Ehrh., 
the others being either slight variations, possible 
hybrids, or trees of very local distribution. P. ru- 
pic'ola Syme is closely allied to the White Beam, as 
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