the trees of great britain & ireland - Facsimile Books & other digitally ...
the trees of great britain & ireland - Facsimile Books & other digitally ...
the trees of great britain & ireland - Facsimile Books & other digitally ...
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
146 The Trees <strong>of</strong> Great Britain and Ireland<br />
PYRUS SORBUS, TRUE SERVICE 1<br />
Pyrus Scrims, Gaertner, 2 £>e Fruct. ii. 43, t. 87 (1791), Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. ii. 921 (1838).<br />
Pyrus domestica, Ehrhart,2 " Plantag," 20, ex Beitrdge zur Naturkunde, vi. 95 (1791); Smith, Eng.<br />
Bot. t. 550 (1796).<br />
Sorbus domestica, Linnaeus, Sp. PI. 4 77 (1753).<br />
Cormus domestica, Spach, Hist. Vig. Phan. ii. 97 (1834).<br />
A tree, attaining a height <strong>of</strong> 60 to 80 feet. Bark, like that <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> common pear,<br />
dark brown, fissuring longitudinally, and scaling <strong>of</strong>f in narrow, rectangular plates.<br />
Leaves pinnate : 6 to 9 pairs <strong>of</strong> sessile leaflets and a terminal stalked leaflet. Leaflets<br />
linear oblong, almost equal-sided at <strong>the</strong> base, and acute at <strong>the</strong> apex, serrate with<br />
acuminate teeth, except towards <strong>the</strong> base where <strong>the</strong>y are entire; dull green above,<br />
paler below, glabrous on both surfaces when mature, some pubescence <strong>of</strong>ten, however,<br />
remaining underneath. Flowers white, in short pubescent corymbs; styles 5,<br />
united at <strong>the</strong> base and woolly in <strong>the</strong>ir whole length. Fruit ei<strong>the</strong>r pear- or apple-<br />
shaped, generally green, tinted with red on one side, 5-celled, about an inch in<br />
diameter.<br />
The fruit apparently varies much in flavour, but in good varieties is agreeable<br />
though astringent. The French proverb, Its ne mangent que les cormes, applied to<br />
destitute persons, would indicate that <strong>the</strong> fruit was poor; and this is doubtless <strong>of</strong>ten<br />
<strong>the</strong> case. In parts <strong>of</strong> France a perry is made from <strong>the</strong>m, and <strong>the</strong>y are also<br />
preserved dry like prunes. At Vevay 3 in Switzerland <strong>the</strong>re are avenues planted,<br />
consisting <strong>of</strong> service <strong>trees</strong> <strong>of</strong> various kinds ; and <strong>the</strong> brilliancy <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> fruit and <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> hues <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> foliage in October give a very fine effect.<br />
VARIETIES<br />
Two well-marked forms occur, one maliformis* with apple-shaped fruit, <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r<br />
pyriformis* with pear-shaped fruit. There would seem, however, to be in France,<br />
though little known to planters in general, varieties which produce fruit <strong>of</strong> a superior<br />
kind. Two <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se are strongly recommended by a writer in <strong>the</strong> Journal <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
French National Horticultural Society : 6 one discovered on <strong>the</strong> estate <strong>of</strong> M. Dufresne,<br />
near Bordeaux, which has large pyriform fruits <strong>of</strong> a carmine yellow, produced in large<br />
bunches and excellent in flavour, as soon as <strong>the</strong>y commence to mellow; <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r<br />
was also found growing wild in woods belonging to M. Lafitte at Agen, which has<br />
fruit <strong>of</strong> a bright pink colour.<br />
1 Service is commonly derived from <strong>the</strong> Latin cerevisia, a drink said to have been formerly made <strong>of</strong> berries <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
different species <strong>of</strong> Sorbus, or to have been flavoured with <strong>the</strong>ir leaves. C. Woolley Dod controverts this view in Card. Chron.<br />
1890, vii. 87, and bolds that service is simply a corruption <strong>of</strong> sorbns, and that cerevisia, a drink, according to Pliny, made <strong>of</strong><br />
cereal grain in Gaul, was ordinary malt ale.<br />
2 Gaertner's and Ehrhart's names were both published in <strong>the</strong> same year. Gaertner's preface antedates that <strong>of</strong> Ehrhart<br />
by a few days. Nothing is known for certain <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> pamphlet " Flantag " cited by Ehrhart. Which name has priority <strong>of</strong><br />
publication is uncertain.<br />
3 Woods and Forests, July 16, 1884. 4 Loddiges, Catalogue, ex Loudon, lot. tit,<br />
6 Quoted in Garden, 1 886, xxx. 89.<br />
Pyrus '47<br />
IDENTIFICATION<br />
In summer <strong>the</strong> tree is only liable to be confused with <strong>the</strong> mountain ash and its<br />
allies. The bark is, however, different, being rough, scaly, and dark-coloured in <strong>the</strong><br />
true service tree, smooth and grey in Pyrus Auciiparia, etc. In Pyrtts Sorbus <strong>the</strong><br />
leaflets at <strong>the</strong> base are practically symmetrical, and <strong>the</strong>ir serration is very acute.<br />
Buds if present are <strong>the</strong> best distinction, as explained below. 1 In winter Pyrus<br />
Sorbus is distinguished by <strong>the</strong> following characters, shown in Plate 45 :<br />
Twigs: long shoots glabrous, round; leaf-scars, crescentic with 5 bundle<br />
dots, set parallel to <strong>the</strong> twig on projecting cushions. Terminal buds larger, side<br />
buds coming <strong>of</strong>f at an acute angle; all ovoid, densely viscid, shining, generally<br />
pubescent at <strong>the</strong> tip. Bud scales few in number, greenish, sometimes reddened,<br />
viscid, quite glabrous, <strong>the</strong> margin without cilia. Short shoots ringed., glabrous,<br />
ending in a terminal bud. The viscid greenish buds, 5-dotted leaf-scars, and rough<br />
scaly bark, distinguish this species from o<strong>the</strong>r kinds <strong>of</strong> Pyrus.<br />
DISTRIBUTION<br />
The Service tree is largely cultivated in central and sou<strong>the</strong>rn Europe; and in<br />
many places, where it is recorded as wild, is really only an escape from cultivation.<br />
It is met with in <strong>the</strong> forests <strong>of</strong> France which rest upon limestone; but in <strong>the</strong><br />
north and east it does not produce fruit every year, and is doubtfully wild except<br />
in <strong>the</strong> south and west. Willkomm considers it to be wild in <strong>the</strong> sou<strong>the</strong>rn parts<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Austrian empire (Dalmatia, Croatia, Banat, Carniola, and South Tyrol), in <strong>the</strong><br />
valley <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Moselle, in <strong>the</strong> Jura and Switzerland ; also in sou<strong>the</strong>rn Europe and<br />
Algeria. In France it is occasionally met with as a standard in coppiced woods.<br />
Mouillefert says that <strong>the</strong> tree may live to be 500 or 600 years old, and that it<br />
was uninjured by <strong>the</strong> severe frost <strong>of</strong> 1879-80, when <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>rmometer fell to<br />
-25 Reaumur. He says, also, that it prefers a rich calcareous soil, but will grow<br />
on sand if not too dry. (A. H.)<br />
REMARKABLE TREES<br />
Pyrus Sorbus is not a native <strong>of</strong> Britain, though a single specimen which grew<br />
in a remote part <strong>of</strong> Wyre Forest in Worcestershire was long considered to give<br />
it a claim to be introduced into <strong>the</strong> British flora. This tree was mentioned in <strong>the</strong><br />
Philosophical Transactions* as long ago as 1678 by Mr. Pitt, who says that he found it<br />
in <strong>the</strong> preceding year as a rarity growing wild in a forest <strong>of</strong> Worcester, and identifies<br />
it with <strong>the</strong> Sorbiis pyriformis <strong>of</strong> L'Obelius, a tree not noticed by any preceding<br />
writer as a native <strong>of</strong> England. Pitt says nothing about <strong>the</strong> size <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tree, merely<br />
observing : " It resembles <strong>the</strong> Ornus or quicken tree, only <strong>the</strong> Ornus bears <strong>the</strong> flower<br />
1 The stipules <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> various species <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> section Sorbus differ considerably in shape, as shown in Plate 43 ; but <strong>the</strong>y<br />
are usually quickly deciduous, and can only assist identification in spring.<br />
2 Phil. Trans., abridged edition, ii. 434 (1809).