P Y R U S communis.
Wild Pear-tree.
ICOSANDRIA Pentagynia.
Gen. Char. Cal. 5-cleft. Petals 5. nipple inferior,
of from 2 to 5 cells. Seeds in pairs.
Spec. Char. Leaves simple, ovate, serrated. Flower-
stalks corymbose.
Syn. Pyrus communis. Linn. Sp. Pl. 686. Sm. FI.
Brit. 531. Huds. 216. With. 462. Hull. 109.
Relh. 190. Sihlh. 156. Abbot. 109.
Pyraster, seu Pyrus sylvestris. Rail Syn. 452.
F o u n d wild at Cuckfield, Sussex, by Mr. W . Borrer,
blossoming early in May, and ripening its fruit towards the
end of August. In Worcestershire, particularly, the snow-
white blossoms of this tree make a beautiful appearance in the
hedges in spring.
The tree is tall and handsome, the wood light, line-grained,
and tolerably hard. The branches grow first erect, and are
then curved downwards and gracefully pendulous. Leaves
ovate or elliptical, bluutish, serrated, but the serratures disappear
by culture, as do the thorns which sometimes occur
on very wild starved pear-trees. The young leaves are downy
beneath, and fringed with white. Stipulaslinear. Flowers in
a terminal downy corymbus; not umbellate as in the Apple,
t. 179- Styles 5 . Fruit obovate, generally hard and austere,
but the specimens sent by Mr. Borrer proved sweet and
agreeable. In fact, wild pears vary much in flavour, as well
as wild crab-apples j though the cultivated varieties of both
are, as every body knows, still more different. The iron pear
is absolutely not eatable.