98 
WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND TREES. 
is in this species round, with red skin and juicy flesh of a 
distinctly acid character. The juice does not stain as does 
that of P. avintn. The Morello or Brandy Cherry, the May 
Duke, and the Kentish Cherries are considered to be derived 
from this species. This does not extend further north than 
Yorkshire ; in Ireland it is rare. 
The Bird Cherry {Primus padus') forms a tree from ten to 
twenty feet in height, with more elliptic leaves, which have 
their edges doubly cut into fine teeth. The flowers are not 
clustered in umbels, as in both the foregoing, but in a loose 
raceme from lateral spurs of new growth. The flowers are 
erect when they open, and the stigmas mature before the 
anthers, so that cross-fertilization is favoured in this species. 
After fertilization the flower droops, to be out of the way of the 
bees in their visits to the unfertilized blossoms. The petals 
in this species look as if their edges had been gnawed. The 
drupes are small, black, and very bitter, with a wrinkled stone. 
This is a northern species, coming not further south than 
Leicestershire and South Wales. All three species flower in 
late April or early May. 
Cherry wood is strong, fine-grained, and of a red colour. It 
is easily worked, and susceptible of a high polish, so that it is 
in request by cabinet-makers, turners, and musical instrument 
makers. 
The Wild Pear {Pyrus communis). 
The Wild Pear is only to be found growing in the southern 
half of Britain, its northward range not extending beyond 
Yorkshire, and even in the south its claim to be regarded as a 
true native has been contested. Mr. Hewett C. Watson re- 
gards it as more probably a denizen, that is, a species originally 
introduced by man, which has maintained its hold upon the 
