90 THE TREES AND SHRUBS [LECT. 



MESPILUS. 



Sibthorp enumerates four species of shrubs be- 

 longing to this genus, regarding the M. pyracantha 

 as the 'Of ua/cca^a of Dioscorides. The latter name, 

 it is well known, has been appropriated by modern 

 botanists to our White Thorn, the Spina alba of the 

 Romans, as has been above alluded to. 



PYRUS. 



Four frutescent species are described by Sibthorp, 

 none of which have been identified by him, but 

 Fraas considers that one, viz. the P. salicifolia, 

 which is the commonest of all in Greece, is in- 

 tended by the 'A^/oas 1 of Theophrastus and Dios- 

 corides, and it is now called dx\adia; whilst an- 

 other, the Pyrus aria, is conjectured to be the 'Apia 

 of Theophrastus \ 



Of the seven trees belonging to this genus, one, 

 the Pyrus communis, our cultivated Pear-tree, was 

 known to the Greeks under the name of 

 P. mains, the Apple, was the M^Aea or ' 

 of Dioscorides, by which latter name it is known 

 at the present day in Greece ; P. cydonia, the Quince, 

 was the KvSavia fj.rj\a of Theophrastus and Dios- 

 corides. 



TAMARIX. 



Tamarix Gallica is a shrub which occurs com- 

 monly in Greece and Italy, and to which Pliny j 



1 Lib. iii. c. 4. > Lib. xiii. 37 



