20 
BOTANICAL INDEX. 
(Fig. 4.) 
Fig. 168. Pyrus Corona ria. 
(Fig. 5.) 
PYRUS CO RON ART A. Linn. 
AMERICAN CRAB APPLE. 
BY W. J. BEAL, AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, LANSING, MICH. 
|II1S small tree extends from near lake Superior in British America to Louisi- 
!(o ana. It is especially abundant in the highest of the Alleghany mountains. 
It thrives in open places, in cool soil which is deep and rich; though it is 
; ' ' not uncommon in soil of moderate fertility. The tree varies in height from 
fifteen to thirty feet, according to soil and climate. The diameter of the 
trunk is three or four inches, but in some cases it reaches fifteen inches. 
The leaves are ovate or broad ovate, variously cut, serrate, and often lobed. The 
flowers are quite large, in corymbs, pale rose color, and very fragrant. The fruit is 
about one to one and a half inches in diameter, flat, globular, with a slight abrupt 
folded basin, and a very shallow cavity. The color is yellowish green, unctuous, 
and very acid. 
The plate contains an illustration of a branch with leaves and two apples, with 
a section of a third, about two-thirds the natural size; also a flower and a flower 
bud. The latter is copied from Michaux’s North American Sylva. There are thirty- 
five or forty species of P'/rus, natives of both, hemispheres, in the north temperate 
zone. Along the Alleghanies there is a narrow leaved Crab Apple, which may be a 
distant species from the one here figured. In Oregon we find P. ritularis, which 
bears small, reddish yellow fruit, about the size of that borne by Mountain Ash ; the 
Indians use it for food. 
To a limited extent, the Crab Apple has been tried as a hedge plant. It is 
well adapted to a high northern latitude; is a very stiff grower, well covered with 
sharp spines; grows faster than hawthorne; is hardy and not liable to disease. At 
Michigan Agricultural College, there has been started a short hedge of this plant. 
