Pear and Apple

Pear and Apple (Pyrus) - Beautiful flowering trees and bushes of which there is now a bewildering number, since botanists have classed all Apples, Pears, and their allies under the one family. Here it will be convenient to adhere to the old classification, which places Pears under Pyrus, Apples under Malus, Beams under Aria, and Mountain Ashes and Service Trees under Sorbus. No one is likely to confuse one with another, and their names are more easily remembered when so classified. These old genera are now placed as sections of Pyrus.

The finest flowering trees are those included under the section Malus, the type of which is the common Crab Apple (M. communis). There is a beautiful flowering variety of the Crab Apple called the Paradise Apple, having large handsome flowers, but it is seldom planted for effect, although in common use as a stock for grafting. The Chinese and Japanese Crab Apples include the finest of our small trees that flower in early summer. The Chinese double-flowered Crab (P. M. spectabilis) is a lovely tree 15 to 25 feet high, with a wide-spreading head of branches abundantly wreathed with large semi-double delicate rose-pink flowers. It is not often met with, except in old gardens. The varieties of P. M. baccata or Berry Apple (so called from its small round fruits) are known as Siberian Crabs. They are graceful in growth, showy in flower, and have highly-colored fruits, which add much to the beauty of the garden in autumn. The Japanese Crab (P. M. Toringo) has beautiful flowers and fruits. The flowers are white and pale pink, and the very small fruits are hung on long slender stalks.

Of the Toringo Crab there are now several forms, differing in color of flower and of fruit. It is a small tree, and is a large-spreading bush if the leaders are removed. The finest of the Eastern Crab Apples is the Japanese P. M. floribunda. Fully grown it makes a low tree with a dense wide-spreading head of slender branches loaded every May with a profusion of flowers of a pale pink when expanded, and of a brilliant crimson in the bud, when they are most beautiful.

Another new mild kind from C. Asia is P. M. niedwetzkyana, known as the Red Apple. Not only are the flowers a deeper red than in any other kind, but the fruits, the bark of the twigs, and even the leaves, when coming and dying away, all carry deep shades of crimson and purple. The N. American Sweet-Scented Crab Apple (P.M. coronaria) is a lovely little tree with large pink deliciously scented flowers. There are other ornamental Apples in the section Malus, but the foregoing include the finest.

Ornamental Pears

Of the one or two Pears that may be planted for ornament one is P. Bollwylleriana, from C. Europe, which produces in spring an abundance of small white blooms in clusters; and another is P. salicifolia (the Willow-leaved Pear), which is well worthy of planting on account of its distinct and beautiful foliage, has leaves of silvery whiteness. P. olaeagnifolia, or Oleaster-leaved Pear, is another Eastern species with hoary leaves.

Of the Sorbus section the common Mountain Ash (P. Aucuparia) is a familiar example, but it is too common to need description. There is a kind with yellow berries, another kind with weeping branches, and a third of erect growth. The last is not very ornamental, as the variegation is seldom distinct. Other species worthy of attention are P.S. americana, the American Mountain Ash, which is a good deal like our own Mountain Ash; and P.S. hybrida, a tree of very distinct growth, with a dense pyramidal head, and leaves intermediate between those of P.S. Aucuparia and P.Aria (the White Beam). The true Service Tree, P.S. domestica, used to be more frequently planted than now. It is a handsome tree with elegant foliage. Of the White Beam (P. Aria) there are some very handsome kinds. Like the Mountain Ash, it is also one of the best trees for planting in exposed places on poor soil, and no tree thrives so well on chalk. Its broad silvery foliage makes it show in the landscape, and it is a valuable park tree. Its allies and varieties include some beautiful trees, such as latifolia, with leaves which are broader than the type and quite as silvery. Hosti is a good tree, both in foliage and flower. Its leaves are large and silvery, and its delicate rose-pink flowers are in broad flat clusters. It is a Central European tree, perfectly hardy, and about 10 feet high. The Himalayan Beam Tree, P. vestita is extremely fine, but is not hardy everywhere. Its very large leaves are like those of the Loquat, and are of silvery whiteness. Where it thrives it is 20 to 30 feet high.

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