80 FAMILIAR TREES 
Its heavy foliage and close zigzag branching render 
it an excellent shade tree for the lawn, and its large 
white blossoms, each an inch and a half across, 
relieved by the five long points of the sepals, on their 
appearance in June and July redeem it from the 
charge of monotony. It is, however, in the autumn 
colouring of its foliage that the Medlar has most 
claim to beauty. The large, soft, lance-shaped leaves 
then present endless contrasts of green, yellow, orange, 
russet and red. Nearly all these colours may, indeed, 
be found on a single leaf, one as spots upon another, 
and among them appears a vivid but deep red, red 
rather as blood than as flame; though in sunshine it 
may truly be said— 
“The drooping Medlar’s dusky shade, 
From summer’s suns a glad retreat, 
Lights up with crimson fire the glade, 
And warms the fleeting autumn’s feet.” 
Some of the finest old Medlar trees in England are 
to be seen at Syon House, Ham House, and in various 
old gardens about Twickenham—trees upwards of 
thirty feet high and with heads nearly forty feet in 
diameter. 
