﻿Inventory 42, Seeds and Plants Imported. 



Plate VIII. 



A Hardy Wild Pear Tree in Kansu, China (Pyrus sp., S. P. I. No. 40019). 



This remarkable wild pear, according to Rehder, stands close to if it is not identical with Pyrus 

 ussuriensis, which has aroused so much interest because of its resistance to pear blight. It occurs 

 in the mountains at altitudes of 8,000 feet in company with the Siberian crab, Populus tremula, 

 and Picea obovata, all northern plants. Though the fruits from the wild tree are hard, acrid, and 

 inedible, the species appears to have given rise to cultivated forms of this pear, which, unlike the 

 true Chinese pear {Pyrus sinensis), are melting in character and not hard and gritty. As a stock 

 or for breeding purposes such a vigorous wild pear can hardly fail to be of value. Photographed 

 by Frank N. Meyer near Tchenyatau, Kansu, December 1, 1914 (P12129FS). 



