BULLETIN NO. 21. 
Although seldom cultivated and little known in this country, several 
of the wild Pear-trees are plants of ornamental value as their large 
white flowers, which open before or with the leaves, and the silvery 
foliage of several of the species are handsome in the spring. The genus 
Pyrus (the Pears), is now considered distinct from Malus (the Apples), 
and Cydonia (the Quinces); it is distributed with a dozen or fifteen 
species from southern Europe to the Caucasus, through Persia to the 
Himalayas, and northward to northern China, the largest number of 
species being found in southeastern Europe and the Caucasus. The 
genus is widely distributed and much cultivated in China where more 
species certainly occur than are now recognized by botanists. There is 
no native Pear-tree in northern Asia or in Japan, and the genus has no 
New World representative. This comparatively restricted range of the 
Pears is remarkable, for wild Apples occur in nearly all the countries of 
the north temperate zone. The Pears do not show such a tendency to 
hybridize as the Apples, although some of the wild European forms are 
sometimes considered on slight evidence natural hybrids; and in the 
United States undoubted hybrids between some of the cultivated varie- 
ties of the common Pear (P. communis ), and cultivated plants of one of 
the Chinese species have appeared, and these hybrids have been largely 
planted for their fruit in different parts of the United States. The best 
known of these are the Keifer and the Leconte. 
The Arboretum collection of wild Pear-trees is planted on the left-hand 
side of the road entering from the Forest Hill Gate, above the collection 
of Apples. Some of the species will be in flower during the week and 
others will be interesting from the beauty of their unfolding leaves. The 
earliest Pear to flower is from northern China and is now called P. Sim- 
onii. It is one of the green-leaved species and, unlike those of all other 
Pear-trees, the leaves turn bright scarlet in the autumn. The fruit is 
small, light yellow, juicy, of good flavor, broadest at the base and grad- 
ually narrowed toward the apex. The handsome flowers and the bril- 
liancy of the autumn leaves make this a valuable ornamental tree. A 
number of species with more or less silvery white leaves from southern 
Europe and the Caucasus will soon be in flower. Among them are P. 
malifolia, P. amygdaliformis, P. elaeagnifolia, P. Michauxii, P. salici- 
folia, P. parvifolia , etc. One of the handsomest plants in the collection 
is P. betulifolia from northern China, with crowded clusters of rather 
small flowers which are followed by globose fruits not much larger than 
peas. This is a very hardy, vigorous, tall, fast-growing tree. Among 
the plants grown in the Arboretum as P. sinensis are two very distinct 
forms raised from seeds sent here from Peking thirty years ago. They 
are both tall, shapely trees with large flowers and large, thick, lustrous 
leaves. One of these Pear-trees produces globose, yellow, juicy fruit, 
and is perhaps the wild type or one of the forms of the excellent yellow 
Pear which is brought in different sizes and great quantities to the Peking 
markets in September and October. The other form produces brown, 
hard fruits not more than half an inch in diameter; and on some trees 
the fruit is globose and on others pear-shaped. The Japanese Sand Pear, 
with its hard, brown, round fruits may perhaps have been derived 
from this Chinese plant . 
