THE SERVICE-TREE 69 
surfaces when fully developed, and its upper surface 
is then shining, the network of finer veins being 
distinctly visible ; but, when young, the leaves are 
downy, the under-surface being then bluish or grey. 
In autumn the leaves turn to a yellowish-brown. 
The flowers appear, in April or May, in large flat 
clusters with downy stalks, and are individually about 
half an inch across. They are thus rather larger than 
those of the Mountain Ash, and they also gain in 
beauty by the greater looseness of their grouping in 
the often-branched corymbs which they form. Their 
styles vary in number from two to five, and are 
smooth, whilst the number of chambers in the fruit, 
of course, corresponds. The fruit itself is about a 
third of an inch across, or a little larger than a 
Hawthorn berry. It may be pear-shaped or more 
globose, but is generally somewhat oval. It is green, 
much dotted or chequered with brown, and is at first 
very hard and dry, but when “bletted” by frost is 
agreeably acid and wholesome Ray even expressed 
a preference for them over those of the True Service 
(P. domestica). In some country markets thesé 
“ chequer-berries” are regularly sold in November. 
Half a century ago Dr.. Bromfield, indeed, recorded 
that they were offered for sale at Ryde, in the Isle of 
Wight, as “ Sorbus-berries.” Aubrey, in his “ Natural 
History of Wiltshire,” writes: “ Dr. Gale tells me that 
Sorbiodunum, now Old Sarum, has its denomination 
from sorbes, but the ground below the castle is all 
turned to arable”; and many other references suggest 
that this tree was once far more frequent, before our 
primeval woodlands had given way on the one hand 
