those of Pyrus intermedia, except that the lobes are triangular pointed, and not rounded as in that species, the sinuses never being acute at their bases.
Var. semilobata (Bechstein).[1] Leaves oval or elliptic oval, acute at the apex, narrowed at the base, lobes sharply cuspidate.
Identification
In summer the leaves are distinguishable from those of Pyrus intermedia by the characters of the lobes and sinuses; while broad-leaved forms differ from Pyrus torminalis in being tomentose beneath, the lobes never being so long as in that species. The tomentum wears off the under surface of the leaf towards the end of the season, and is never so dense or so persistent as in intermedia. On Plate 44 figures are given of leaves from wild trees occurring at Symond's Yat (Fig. 9) and Minehead (Fig. 11), and from a cultivated tree at Kew (Fig. 12). In winter a tree cultivated at Kew showed the following characters, represented in Plate 45.
Twigs: long shoots, shining, round, glabrous, except for a little pubescence near the tip; lenticels numerous as oval prominent warts; leaf-scars set somewhat obliquely on prominent, often greenish cushions; crescentic with three bundle dots, of which the central one is the largest. Terminal bud oval, much larger than the side buds, which come off the twigs at a very acute angle, with their apices bent inwards. All the buds are viscid, pubescent at the tip, and composed of oval scales, which are keeled on the back, ciliate in margin, and short-pointed at the tip. Short shoots ringed, slightly pubescent, ending in a terminal bud. In the specimens examined the leaf-scar at the base of the terminal bud had acute lateral lobes not observed in other species of Pyrus; but these are probably not always present.
Distribution
The tree was first discovered in the forest of Fontainebleau,[2] and was described by Valliant[3] as "Cratægus folio subrotundo, serrato, et laciniato."
Duhamel du Monceau gave a figure of the leaf in his classic work.[4] The distribution on the Continent of the type, and of the forms allied to it, has been given above.
In England a small tree, of somewhat rare occurrence, grows wild in woods
- ↑ Pyrus semilobata, Bechstein, loc. cit. 152 and 317, t. 6.
- ↑ I visited Fontainebleau in 1905 on purpose to see this tree at home, and found only small trees of it in full flower on 14th May. I was informed by M. Reuss, Inspector of Forests at Fontainebleau, that the tree grows scattered only in the part which is called Montenflammé and Mont Merle, where the sand is covered by the calcareous strata of Beaune, so that the tree is evidently peculiar to calcareous formations. Formerly the trees were cut with the underwood, but are now reserved on account of their rarity, as well as the whitebeam and P. torminalis, which M. Reuss considers to be indigenous at Fontainebleau, and therefore admits the possibility of their hybridising. The largest tree known to him is on Mont Merle, at the corner of the roads d'Anvers et de l'Echo in the 16th série, and is 40 centimetres in diameter, or about 4 feet in girth at 5 feet from the ground. It is known to the peasants at Fontainebleau as baguenaudier or elorsier, but is generally termed by French botanists alisier de Fontainebleau.—(H.J.E.)
- ↑ Botanicon Parisiense, ed. 3, p. 63 (1727).
- ↑ Traité des Arbres, i. 194, t. 80, fig. 2 (1755).
