10 
PYRUS CYDONIA. 
Common Quince Tree.* 
Class IcoSA^BRiA.— Order Pentagynia. 
Nat. Ord. Pomaceje, Linn. RosACEiE, Juss. 
Gen. Char. Calyx monophyllous, five-cleft, persistent. 
Corolla petals 5, nearly round, concave, inserted into the 
calyx. Filaments 20, inserted into the calyx. Germens 
beneath the receptacle. Pericarpium an apple, five-celled. 
Spec. Char. Leaves ovate, entire. Flowers solitary. 
The common quince tree is a native of Austria, and has been 
found growing wild on the shores of the Danube. Thunberg found 
it growing in Japan, where it is called umhats ;t but from the writings 
of Plinyl it appears that the Malus Cydonia, or Mv^Xsa xvlmiu. 
of the Greeks, was originally brought from Cydon, in Crete ; hence 
the name Cydonia. In its wild state the quince is much less lux- 
uriant than we observe it in our British gardens, where it was 
first cultivated in the time of Gerarde, about the year 1597. § 
This tree seldom rises very high, being usually very crooked and 
distorted : it sends off several branches, and is covered with a brown 
bark ; the leaves are simple, roundish or oval, entire : on the upper 
side of a dusky green colour, on the under whitish, and stand upon 
short foot-stalks ; the flowers are large, solitary, of a pale red or 
white colour, and placed close to the axillae of the leaves ; the calyx 
is composed of one leaf, and divided into five spreading,'oval, notched 
segments ; the corolla consists of five petals : these are large, 
roundish, and notched at their extremities; the filaments are about 
twenty, tapering, shorter than the corolla, inserted into the calyx, 
and furnished with simple anthers ; the germen is orhicular ; the 
* Fig. a. represents the flower and leaves of the natural size, h. The fruit, c. The 
germen and stjles. d. An anther, 
t Flor, Japan, p. 200. 
X Lib. XV. cap. II. 
§ Hortas Cantabrigiensis. 
