Page:TheTreesOfGreatBritainAndIreland vol01.djvu/188

160 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 inwards. 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.

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.

Var. scandica has been found in Britain, in a few localities in Denbighshire and Breconshire, and also at Chepstow in Monmouthshire, always growing on limestone rocks. It was supposed to grow also in Arran, but Koehne, as will be seen in our account of the peculiar forms of that island under Pyrus pinnatifida, denies its occurrence there.

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