66 



The Flora of Wiltshire. 



on account of their departure from the type or species, than for 

 any peculiar beauty they possess. Sir William Hooker observes 

 that few of our native plants present a more beautiful appearance 

 than a well-grown tree of " Hawthorn-hoar," with its massy 

 foliage, and innumerable white and fragrant blossoms. 



" From the White-thorn the May-flower shed 

 ' Its dewy fragrance round our head." 



Pyrtjs, (Linn.) Pear, Apple, Service. 

 Linn. CI. xii. Ord. ii. 



Name. Derived from the Celtic peren, or Gaelic peur, a pear. 



1. P. Mains, (Linn.) Wild Apple, 1 Crab-tree. Malus (Lat.) an 

 apple-tree, a word used by Virgil. Engl. Mot. t. 179. 



Locality. Hedgerows and rough bushy places. Tree, Fl. April, 

 May. In fruit, September and October. Area, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Not 

 unfrequent in the Districts. Tree of moderate elevation, with spread- 

 ing branches. Leaves ovate, or oblong, or orbicular, toothed or 

 crenulate, slightly downy when young, on very short petioles. 

 Flowers large, roseate on the outside or entirely white on short 

 pedicels. Fruit large, downy when in a young state, glabrous 

 when old, umbilicate both at the base and at the apex. We have 

 two forms of this tree in Wilts. Yar. a. "P. acerba >} (D.C.) ; 

 Leaves glabrous. Fruit very austere. Yar. /3. tomentosa (Koch ;) 

 Leaves pubescent. Fruit agreeable. This tree or this variety is 

 said to be the original of the hundreds, or probably thousands, of 

 sorts of apple-trees, which have been cultivated everywhere from 

 time immemorial. 



2. P. Aria, (Smith) White Beam-tree. Aria, the name given 

 to this tree by Theophrastus, is probably from the name of that 

 country in Asia. Engl. Bot. t. 1858. 



Locality. Woods on a chalky soil. Pare. Tree Fl. May. 



the town and country adjacent. It does not appear to differ from the common 

 Thorn (" Cratcegus Oxyacantha") except in the stipules being lunar-shaped, 

 toothed, and very large, and in the period of its flowering. 



1 The word apple is derived from the Celtic ball, a round body ; whence also 

 abhall in Gaelic, and apfel in German. 



