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160 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland
tree from Pyrus Aria and Pyrus latifolia, the species nearly allied. In winter the
following characters are available, as shown in Plate 45 :
Twigs: long shoots, round, glabrous, often with waxy patches; lenticels long,
numerous. Leaf-scars: crescentic, with 3 equal-sized bundle dots, obliquely set on
a brownish projecting cushion. Buds glistening, pubescent at the tip; terminal
much the largest; side-buds arising at an acute angle with their apices directed in
wards. The bud-scales have a dark-coloured rim to the ciliate margin, and their
apex is scalloped with a central projection ending in a tuft of long hairs. The short
shoots are ringed, pubescent, with a terminal bud.
DISTRIBUTION
The variety minima occurs only in Breconshire, on the limestone mountain cliff
Craig Cille, near Crickhowell, and at Blaen Onnen, two miles to the west of Craig
Cille, and is a small shrub clothing the cliffs up to 2000 feet altitude. The flowers
and fruit are very similar to those of the mountain ash ; and Koehne supposes it to
be a hybrid between Pyrus intermedia and Pyrus Aucuparia, which occur in the same
locality.
The form Mougeoti, which is considered by many botanists to be a distinct
species, occurs in Lorraine, the Vosges, Jura, Suabian and Western Alps, and in the
Carpathians. It never attains a great size, being either a low bush or a small tree
15 to 30 feet in height. In Piercefield Park, Monmouth, Great Doward in Hereford,
and a few other localities in the west of England, a shrub or small tree has been found
which is near this form. 1
Var. scandica has been found in Britain, in a few localities in Denbighshire and
Breconshire,2 and also at Chepstow 3 in Monmouthshire, always growing on limestone
rocks. It was supposed to grow also in Arran, but Koehne, 4 as will be seen in our
account of the peculiar forms of that island under Pyrus pinnatifida, denies its
occurrence there. (A. H.)
This variety is widely spread in Northern Europe. The best account we know
of this tree is by Conwentz, who calls it " Pirus Suecica" He says that most authors
speak of it as a small tree or shrub Koehne only gives it as 7 metres high. It
grows on granite, gneiss, chalk, and alluvium, and extends from the island of Aland,
South-east Sweden, South Norway, and Denmark, to North-east Germany, where,
however, it seems to be quite a rare tree and only recently discovered.
It is represented in France, Switzerland, Austria, and Bosnia by P. Mougeoti,
which many botanical authors have mistaken for it, and which, according to
Conwentz, can only be distinguished in some varieties by the fruit.
In the island of Oesel, in the Baltic, it is much planted, and often attains 2 metres
in girth. Conwentz, however, found wild specimens at Soeginina near Karral, at
Pajumois near Keilkond, at Wita Jahn, and in other places mostly small trees, but
1 It is called Pynts intermedia, Ehrh., by the Rev. Augustin Ley. Briggs and Boswell think it is perhaps a form of
Aria or rupicola. See Jour. Bot. 1 884, p. 216. It is certainly quite distinct, in my opinion, from scandica or latifolia.
* Jour. Bot. 1 903, p. 215. 3 Specimen at Kew, 4 Jour. Bot. 1 897, p. 99.
Pyrus r6
in some places attaining 10 metres in height. In the Finnish islands of Aland it
is found truly wild, in a few places only, sometimes in company with an allied
species, P. fennica. Conwentz identified it at Bergo, Skarpnato, Labnas, and else
where. The finest specimen he saw at Ostergeta, being 12 metres high and 2 metres
in girth.
In south-eastern Sweden it is more abundant, but does not occur in any of the
provinces north of Wermland, about lat. 60 N. In the neighbourhood of Stockholm
it grows at Stockby to 12 metres in height. In Sodermanland and the island of
Gothland it is more common.
In Denmark the tree has been found in many places, and is undoubtedly wild
near Aarhus in Jutland, in the forests of Adslev, Kolden, and Jexen. I believe that
I also saw it in the forest of Roldskov near Aalborg, though I did not at that time
distinguish it from Pyrus Aria. I n the island of Bornholm it is known under the
name of " Axelbar."
In Germany it is confined to a limited area on the coasts of West Prussia and
Pomerania, where Conwentz has found it living in six places only Koliebken, Hoch
Redlau, Oxhoft, Karthaus, Gr. Podel, and Markuhle near Kolberg. He gives maps
showing the position of the trees in these places, and says that whilst P. torminalis
grows in the interior, where the hornbeam is predominant, P. intermedia grows in
the country along the coast, where the beech is the prevailing tree. It occurs most
commonly in a shrubby condition, the tallest wild one being only 13 metres high by
1 metre in girth, but one tree at Gross Podel in Pomerania is 1.90 metre in girth,
and at Wernigerode, in the Harz, a cultivated tree has attained 17 by 3.17 metres,
which is the largest known to Conwentz. He thinks that the scarcity of the tree
in Germany arises from its not being indigenous, as no geological evidence exists of
its having been formerly commoner, and suggests that it has been introduced from
Sweden by birds of passage, such as the waxwing or thrushes, which are fond of the
fruit, and may have voided the seeds after migration from the north..
The Swedish name is Oxel, and this name being found in many place and family
names in Sweden, shows that the tree was probably more common formerly than at
present.
In Norway, Schiibeler 1 says that it is wild only in the most southern parts, as
at Porsgrund, Grimstad, and Dalen in Eidsborg. in lat. 59 42' N. There are large
trees at Lunde in Stavanger district growing near the church. In the Botanic
Gardens at Christiania I have seen a tree which is about 12 metres high and over
2 in girth. It has been planted and grows well at Stenkjaer, at the north end of the
Trondhjem Fjord. The Norsk name is Maave.
Dr. Brunchorst, Director of the Bergen Museum, informed the Earl of Ducie
that Pyrus intermedia, as well as P. pinnatifida (P. fennica}, were found on the
south-west coast of Norway, and that a hybrid which he calls Pyrus Meinickii,
P. fennica x Aucuparia, has also been recently discovered in the " MosterO Bommel
Fjord." Dr. Brimchorst, who has paid much attention to this genus, says that three
species which he cultivates at Bergen vary much, and perhaps pass into one another.
1 Schubeler, Viridiiriuin nomegicitin, vol. ii. 477 (1888).