348 



FLORA AND SYLVA. 



The Prairie Crab (P. Ioensis). — A small 

 tree from the Western States of America, abun- 

 dant in the flat lands of river valleys. Its irregu- 

 larly-toothed leaves are covered beneath with 

 reddish down, extending to the stems of the 

 rosy flowers and to the floral organs. The fruits, 

 of dull green covered with pale dots, are angu- 

 lar, greasy to the touch, and very sour; they 

 ripen late and are gathered by the settlers, 

 though not considered worth cultivation. A 

 variety of this with double flowers of deeper 

 colour is known as BechtePs Crab — a better 

 garden tree than this wild form of the back- 

 woods. Some authors regard P. Ioensis as a 

 variety of the Garland Crab (P. coronaria). 



The Common Crab (P. Ma/us communis). 

 — The Wild Apple, with its pink and white 

 flowers and varied forms of fruit covers a wide 

 area in Europe and Asia. Beside its geographi- 

 cal forms it has been cultivated from remote 

 antiquity with the results seen in our large- 

 fruiting varieties, for which the wild tree and 

 one of its dwarf forms, M. paradisiaca, are used 

 as stocks. Its garden forms are in the main 

 more curious than beautiful, and include the 

 Bloomless Apple (P. dioicd) with strangely 

 imperfect flowers, and a number of variegated 

 and distorted forms of no value. The best gar- 

 den form is pendula (or E/ise Rat like), a pretty 

 weeper, most useful as a standard for shrub- 

 beries, where its beautiful flowers and large 

 highly-coloured fruits give fine effect. Trans- 

 lucens is a form with double flowers, and the 

 large single flowers of paradisiaca are not with- 

 out beauty. The common form of our woods 

 is as pretty as any in its bloom. 



THEBLACK-FRUITEDCRAB(P.W£'/^;70^r/'tf). 



— A tree of medium size and remarkable only 

 for its small black fruits, not without beauty 

 for autumn decoration but of no other value. 

 It is the Black Borsdorffer Apple of the Ger- 

 mans, and its prettiest form is prostrata, inwhich 

 the quaint effect of the berries is enhanced 

 by rich autumn tints of crimson and bronze. 



The Red Crab (P. niedzwetzkyana) . — A 

 new and very distinct Crab from the Caucasus 

 and Turkestan, where it has been cultivated 

 for many years. Its flowers, well shown in our 

 plate, are the deepest in colour of the whole 

 group, and the fruits are also of intense crimson. 

 Even in winter the bark and twigs are con- 

 spicuous for their ruddy purple colour, and on 



first appearing the leaves show the same red- 

 ness, becoming deep green with red veins 

 when mature, and fading again to reddish- 

 purple in autumn. It is therefore known as 

 the Red Apple throughout Central Asia. The 

 fruits ripen during August and are cone-shaped, 

 of good flavour, and of such intense colour 

 that even the flesh is stained a deep rose-red. 

 It is a small free-growing tree of proved hardi- 

 ness in the south of Britain, where it flowers 

 and fruits freely, and is a striking object at all 

 seasons. Itismetwith throughout central Asia 

 and bears the name of a Russian traveller who 

 found it in Siberia. 



The Cherry Crab (P. prunifolia.) — As 

 has been mentioned, this kind is so linked to 

 baccata by intermediate forms as to be scarcely 

 separable from it, and many botanists are giv- 

 ing up the attempt to keep them apart. The 

 flowers are white, followed by fruits of bright 

 purplish-red, and the size of a cherry. Old trees 

 are of fine appearance in the spring and au- 

 tumn, and when planted in the open 30 feet 

 in all directions is no unusual measure. There 

 are many garden forms, the most distinct being 

 that with double flowers, and a pretty weep- 

 ing tree — prunifolia pendula. 



Japanese Crab (P. Ringo). — Though 

 classed apart, it is doubtful if this scarce Japa- 

 nese tree is more than a variety of spectabilis 

 or Toringo, to both of which it has been joined 

 by certain authors. It is a low tree of strag- 

 gling habit with no tendency to the dense head 

 of most Apples, and if less neat, the loosely 

 drooping branches fully display their flowers 

 and fruit. The flowers are white flecked with 

 rose, large, and well distributed, followed in 

 October by clusters of oval yellow fruits like 

 cherries, hung all along thebranches uponslen- 

 der stalks and daintily flushed where touched 

 by sunlight, Though coming near P. spectabilis 

 it differs in its shrubby habit and more downy 

 leaves. Two recognised forms are fastigiata 

 bifera (a probable hybrid) of free growth and 

 better habit, with large rosy flowers, deep 

 crimson while in bud, and often borne twice 

 in one season ; and sublobata, a leaf variety. 



The Californian Crab (P. rivularis). — 

 A common tree in alluvial soils of the West- 

 ern Pacific States, reaching a height of 40 feet 

 ' and forming dense thicketsin the river valleys, 

 j Its white flower^ and green fruits are only of 



