PYRUS ARIA, Whitebeam
- Pyrus Aria, Ehrhart, Beiträge zur Naturkunde, iv. 20 (1789); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. ii. 910 (1838).
- Cratægus Aria, Linnæus, Sp. Pl. 475 (1753).
- Sorbus Aria, Crantz, Stirp. Aust. ii. t. 2, f. 2 (1762).
- Aria nivea, Host, Fl. Aust. ii. 8 (1813).
A tree in woods and on good soil attaining a height of 40 to 50 feet, and rarely 70 feet in height; but in rocky and mountainous situations usually remaining shrubby. Bark smooth and grey, becoming slightly fissured in old trees. Leaves stalked, oval or obovate, rounded, cordate, or cuneate at the base, sharp or obtuse at the apex, biserrate or slightly lobulate with teeth, the lobules largest towards the apex of the leaf; green and glabrous when adult above, but always snowywhite tomentose beneath; nerves, 8-12 pairs, very prominent on both surfaces. Flowers with an unpleasant odour, white, in loose corymbs; the peduncle, receptacle, calyx, and corolla, white tomentose; styles 2, free, pubescent at the base. Fruit globose or ovoid, inch in diameter, shining red with a few brown dots, tomentose at the base and apex; flesh scanty, sweetish acid in flavour.
Identification
In summer the leaves, snowy white underneath and with prominent nerves, are a sure guide. The leaves of Aria from a wild specimen growing at Gosford, Kent (Fig. 18); of var. rupicola from a wild specimen from north-west Lancashire (Fig. 13); of var. salicifolia (Fig. 16) and var. Decaisneana (Fig. 8), both from specimens cultivated at Kew, are shown on Plates 43 and 44. In winter the following characters are available, as shown in Plate 45:—
Twigs: long shoots round, shining brown, glabrous except for a little pubescence near the tip, marked with scattered wart -like lenticels. Leaf-scars set obliquely on prominent leaf-cushions, crescentic, with three bundle traces. Buds ovoid, conicalpointed, shining, and somewhat viscid; terminal larger, side-buds coming off at an acute angle. Bud-scales glued together, strongly keeled, glabrous on the surface, densely long ciliate in margin. Short shoots ringed, generally glabrous, and ending in a terminal bud. Viscid buds occur also in Pyrus Sorbus, which is, however, very distinct in its five-dotted scars and glabrous scales.
Varieties
Some authors take Pyrus Aria in a wide sense, and under it group Aria proper, rupicola, latifolia, scandica, etc. as sub-species. Most of these, as being readily distinguishable by many characters, have been considered by us as distinct species. Taking Pyrus Aria in a narrow sense, as comprising forms with leaves
