lOO 
WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND TREES. 
produced in clusters. The flowers, which measure more than 
an inch across^ are pure white in colour, and are clustered in 
cymes of five to nine. They appear in .'Vpril and May, and are of 
the Wild Rose type, there being numerous stamens, from three 
to five styles, which ripen before the stamens, five petals, and 
the calyx, taking the form of a pitcher with a five-lobed mouth, 
represents the five sepals. 
In speaking of the Wild Plums we directed attention to the 
fact that the ovary was within the flower ; in the Pear (and the 
other members of the genus Pyrus) it is below the flower, hidden 
away in fact within the calyx-tube. When the flower opens it 
is ready for fertilization, but as the stamens of that flower are 
not yet mature this can only be accomplished by pollen brought 
by the bees from other flowers as they rifle the honey-glands. 
The effect of pollination is to cause special vegetative activity 
in the neighbourhood of the ovary, resulting in the thickening 
of the flesh of the calyx-tube around it, until it has become of 
the characteristic pear-shape, and an inch or two in length. A 
section of a pear or apple, taken lengthwise, will show a faint 
green outline of the ovary, and will demonstrate how much 
of the flesh is really belonging to the calyx-tube. The fruit of the 
Wild Pear is green until about November, when it turns yellow. 
It is of too harsh a character to be fit for eating. 
A Pear formerly known as a variety {briggsii) of Pyrtts com- 
munis is now regarded as a distinct species under the name of 
Pyrus cordata. It is found in Cornwall, and is distinguished by 
its more oval leaves being rounded at the base, and by its much 
smaller fruits being often globular. 
The Pear is a long-lived tree, that grows singly or in small 
groups on dry plains. It attains a height of about fifty feet in 
thirty years, and its girth may then be three or four feet. The 
timber is fine-grained, strong and heavy, with a reddish tinge. 
Stained with black, it is used to counterfeit ebony. 
