THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
203 
THE WILD PEAR TREES, SHAD BUSHES AND 
VIBURNUMS AT THE ARNOLD ABORETUM 
The Wild Peak Trees 
HE old collection of these trees is on the left-hand 
natives of China and the Himalayas, and range 
side of the Forest Hills entrance. Pear trees are 
westward through Persia and the Caucasus to south¬ 
eastern and southern Europe. The genus has no rep¬ 
resentative in Japan or America, The wild types are 
rarely cultivated in this country, although as flowering 
trees some of the species are as beautiful as many of Hie 
in flower and leaf is another of the Bretschneider Pears 
■to which the name of Pyrus phaeocarpa has lately been 
given. This tree has unusually large flowers, large, deep 
green and very lustrous leaves and small, pear-shaped, 
russet brown fruits. There is a variety with globose 
fruit (var. globosa) which except in the shape 
of the fruit is like the species. This is one of the 
handsomest of the small trees which have been intro¬ 
duced by the Arboretum in cultivation. The third of the 
Wading Pool in Clark Park, Detroit, Michigan. 
better known Asiatic Crabapples and their leaves, both 
when they are unfolding and at maturity, are much 
handsomer than those of any ot the Apples. 1 he flowers 
of all Pear trees are pure white and their large, bright 
rose-colored anthers add to their attractiveness. Some of 
the Chinese species have been growing in the Arboretum 
since 1882 when Dr. Bretschneider sent here from Peking 
'the seeds of a number of trees and shrubs from northern 
China. Among these were the seeds of what now prove 
to be three species of Pear trees. One of these, Pyrus 
betulaefolia, had been known earlier in France. It is ;l 
tall, rather narrow tree with pale foliage, comparatively 
small flowers and small russet fruits rarely more than 
half an inch in diameter. This is a last-growing, shap< 1\ 
tree and has proved hardy in many ol the northern di\ 
cold regions of this country and Canada, and has som< 
t imes been successfully used as a stock on vv Inch to w oi k 
some of the varieties of garden Pears. Unlortunatel} il 
frequently suffers from the pear blight. More beauliiul 
Bretschneider Pears has been named tor him, Pyrus Bret- 
schneideri. This tree does not appear to grow to so large 
a size as the last, but it is perfectly hardy and the flowers 
and foliage are nearly as handsome. The lruit is globose 
or subglobose, about one inch in diameter, pale yellow, 
juicy and of good flavor. This is probably the tree I coin 
which at least some of the excellent and very juicy pears 
vhich are largely cultivated in the neighborhood of Pe- 
dn have been derived. It is possible that this tree wilt 
prove useful to cross with some ol the garden Pears in 
ilie hope of obtaining varieties which may prove hardiei 
han any now in cultivation. Another Chinese Peai is 
me of the most distinct and interesting species of the 
,vhole genus. The leaves ol most Pear trees toll in lh< 
autumn without change of color or turn to a dull bronze 
3 0 lor, but the leaves of this tree late in the autumn turn 
as bright a scarlet as those of any American Red Maple 
ar Gum tree. The fruit of a few Pear trees is globose, hut 
its usual form is obovoid, that is the broad end is at the 
