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SERVICE TREE. 



Family: ROSACEAE. 



Reproductive system: ICOSANDRY, TRIGYNY. 



The service tree, Sorbus domestica, Linn., is a tree that grows naturally in the 

 woodlands of Provence and Piedmont where it grows about fifty feet high. Its trunk is 

 straight and smooth; it forms a rounded top at its summit. The leaves are pinnate with 

 oval-oblong leaflets that have dentate margins and are whitish underneath. The flowers 

 are white and are arranged in corymbs. The calyx has five lobes. The five petals as well 

 as a very large number of stamens insert into the calyx. The flowers are replaced by 

 yellowish fruit in one variety and by brown fruit in another. 



The cultivated service tree differs from the wild service tree in the number of its 

 styles, of which there are three, and in the type of its seeds, which are cartilaginous. 



FLOWERS: at the onset of spring. 



RANGE: Provence. It's cultivated in almost all of France. 



NOMENCLATURE. M. de Theis says that Sorbus is derived from the Celtic 

 sormel, a combination of sol, meaning rough or harsh, and mel, apple. German, der 

 sperberbaum, spirting. English, the sorbetree. Hungarian, barkotza. 



USES. In several provinces the tree is cultivated for its fruit which is used to make 

 cider, or for eating during the winter after ripening on a bed of straw. Its wood is reddish, 

 hard, and weighs thirty-one kilograms per cubic foot. It's used to make nuts, screws for 

 presses, handles for utensils, and furniture, since it polishes beautifully. 



The mountain ash, Sorbus aucuparia. Linn., doesn't grow as tall as the preceding 

 tree. Its leaves are oval-lanceolate, pointed, and dentate on their margins. The flowers are 

 white and are grouped in broad umbels. They're succeeded by berries that when ripe are 

 beautifully red 



