HEDGE-ROWS OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF PLYMOUTH. 221 
do concerning our Plums and Pears, though in a less degree; for 
we have only two strongly marked forms to deal with—Pyrus 
acerba, the Crab, and Pyrus mitis, the Wild Apple. They are 
designated sub-species by Dr. Boswell, though, in common with 
most British botanists, I would rather sink them to the grade of 
varieties under Pyrus malus, as I have occasionally found plants with 
intermediate characters. Their chief differences are well noted by 
Watson in the following words: ‘‘The true, or austere Crab” 
(acerba) ‘‘has nearly glabrous leaves, with small, very sour fruit 
on slender pedicels. The wilding Apple” (mitis) ‘‘has the under- 
side of the leaves and other surfaces clothed with cottony pubes- 
cence ; its fruit is usually larger and less sour, and on a shorter and 
thicker stalk.” He adds: ‘‘ This latter is the more frequent variety, 
or rather series of varieties, filling up the interval between the 
sour Crab and the garden Apples; and no doubt it is often produced 
directly from the latter, if not always so.” Some have spoken 
with hesitation as to the indigenous character of the Crab (acerba) 
in England; but I feel confident of its being a true native in the 
neighbourhood of Plymouth, occurring as it does in aboriginal 
woods and wild copses, as well as in hedge-rows. Moreover, I am 
half inclined to regard mitis, from its distribution, as a native also, 
though, on the other hand, quite willing to accept the view that 
many of our examples of it are but the produce of seeds of culti- 
vated Apples. Dr. Boswell, in English Botany, says of it: ‘‘ No 
doubt the original stock of all the cultivated Apples which have 
shortly-stalked fruits ;’’ the correctness of which opinion I would 
not question, though it is only by considering the plant an in- 
troduction that we can quite reconcile this view with another 
statement of his concerning it; viz., that it is ‘‘most probably 
generally, if not always, derived from the seeds of the cultivated 
Apple.” He speaks only as to what he considers the parent form 
of our Apples with short-stalked fruit, saying nothing as to that 
of the others. To me it seems highly probable that such of them 
as produce round fruits, borne on long slender stems, have sprung 
directly from Acerba, rather than from it through Mitis. 
Our other hedge-row bushes belonging to the genus Pyrus are 
three—P. torminalis, the Wild Service; P. latifolia, Broad-leaved 
Service; and P. Aucuparia, Mountain Ash. Pyrus torminalis is 
rare, though thinly scattered over the whole of the wooded and 
enclosed portions of our area, occurring in copses and woods as 
