992 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
well as in hedge-rows; in favourable situations attaining the 
dimensions of a tree. It has handsome coriaceous leaves, some- 
what of the shape of those of the Maple, though larger, and when 
these are associated with corymbs of Mountain Ash-like flowers 
the shrub has an elegant appearance. Unfortunately however it 
only flowers when the bushes have become of a size and age they 
are now rarely or never suffered to attain in our hedge-rows, 
through the frequent cutting and paring processes of modern 
systems of farming. Sometimes it meets with no better treatment 
in our woods, from being cut down indiscriminately with the 
coppice-oak. Of those who notice our wild flowers but few have 
seen this Service Tree in bloom. The finest example I know grows 
near the heronry in Warleigh Wood. This, by a rough calculation 
that I made a few years ago, was then between thirty and forty 
feet high, with a bole clear of branches for about six feet from the 
ground, and a few inches from the surface four feet in circumference. 
The members of one of our northern Natural History Societies 
have recently turned their attention to the delineation and descrip- 
tion of the remarkable trees of their part of the country, and 
should a similar work ever be undertaken by our own, this War- 
leigh Pyrus torminalis would be well worth figuring. In some 
parts of southern England this species would seem to be commoner 
than with us. Dr. Bromfield, in his Flora Vectensis, speaks of 
its fruit being sold in both Sussex and the Isle of Wight ‘‘in 
the shops and public markets, tied up in bunches, principally to 
children.” He adds: ‘‘At Ryde they go under the name of 
Sorbus berries, but are not in much request, a fact by no means 
surprising when we consider the twofold interpretation implied in 
‘the specific name—by some alleged to bear reference to the efficacy 
of these berries in cases of dysentery; by others, with whom, like 
Withering, we are from experience compelled to coincide, pro- 
nounced highly befitting a fruit qualified to cause rather than cure 
the disease in question.”” Pyrus latifolia (Broad-leaved Service) 
is extremely rare. It is the P. scandica of Babington’s Manual. 
It was unknown in a wild state about Plymouth until I discovered 
it several years ago in the neighbourhood of Roborough, since 
which I have met with it in two or three spots near Meavy. It 
is even handsomer than torminalis, and its beauty seems to have 
met with some appreciation, for we occasionally find it admitted 
into pleasure grounds, together with some allied forms. I have 
