WHITE-BEAM TREE. 



PYRUS ARIA. 



,?OMACEi?<. ICOSANDRIA DIGYNIA, 



French, alizier ; Italian, aria, sorbo peloso. 



This tree will grow forty feet high, with a large trunk ; 

 the leaves are about three inches long, and half that 

 width ; of a light green on the upper surface, but very 

 white on the lower. The flowers grow at the ends of the 

 branches, in bunches or corymbs, two inches or more in 

 diameter: they are white, and are succeeded by red 

 berries. 



The White Beam is a native of most parts of Europe, 

 chiefly on dry liills, and sandy exposures, in gravel, clay, 

 or chalk, or from the fissures of limestone rock. With 

 us, it grows in all but the eastern counties. 



The wood being hard, tough, and smooth, is made 

 into axle-trees, wheels^ walking sticks, and tool handles. 

 The fruit is eatable when mellowed by frost, and an 

 ardent spirit may be distilled from it. 



The straight handsome growth of this tree, the 

 smoothness of the bark, the extreme whiteness of the 

 under surface of the leaves, and the handsome bunches of 

 white flowers, succeeded by red berries, render it very 

 desirable as a variety in ornamental plantations. 



In Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Lancashire, and 

 Westmoreland, it is called Red Chess Apple, and Sea 

 Owler ; in Derbyshire, Wild Pear tree. Oerarde calls 

 it Cumberland Hawthorn. In some places it is known 

 by the name of White Leaf tree. 



