Part 7 (2/2)

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Pl. 94._ Gean in flower.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Pl. 95._ Flowers of Gean.]

Our three natives are the Wild or Dwarf Cherry (_Prunus cerasus_), the Gean (_P. avium_), and the Bird Cherry (_P. padus_). Of these the Gean is the species most widely distributed throughout our country, and we therefore give it precedence.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Gean. A, fruit; B, flower.]

The Gean (_Prunus avium_) is a tree that in suitable soils attains a height of thirty or forty feet, with short, stout branches, that take an upward direction. The leaves are large, broadly oval, with sharp-toothed edges, and downy on the underside. They always droop from the branches, and in spring they are of a bronzy-brown tint, which afterwards changes to pale green. Soon after the leaves have unfolded they are almost hidden by the umbels of wide-open white flowers, which have soft, heart-shaped petals, and whose anthers and stigmas mature simultaneously. The firm-fleshed drupe is heart-shaped, black or red, sweet or bitter, with scanty juice which stains the fingers. This is believed to be the original wild stock from which our modern Black Hearts and Bigarreau Cherries have been evolved by the cultivator.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Wild Cherry. A, fruit; B, flower.]

The Dwarf or Wild Cherry (_Prunus cerasus_) is more bush-like than tree-like, for it sends up a great number of suckers around the main stem. The branches are slender and drooping. The leaves, which are of similar shape to those of _P. avium_, are smooth and deep blue-green in tint, with round-toothed edges. The flowers are not so widely open as in the previous species, but retain more of the cup-shape, whilst the notched petals are firmer in consistence and oval in shape. The drupe is in this species round, with red skin and juicy flesh of a distinctly acid character. The juice does not stain as does that of _P. avium_. The Morello or Brandy Cherry, the May Duke, and the Kentish Cherries are considered to be derived from this species. This does not extend further north than Yorks.h.i.+re; in Ireland it is rare.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Pl. 96._ Bird Cherry--spring.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Pl. 97._ Bole of Bird Cherry.]

The Bird Cherry (_Prunus padus_) forms a tree from ten to twenty feet in height, with more elliptic leaves, which have their edges doubly cut into fine teeth. The flowers are not cl.u.s.tered in umbels, as in both the foregoing, but in a loose raceme from lateral spurs of new growth. The flowers are erect when they open, and the stigmas mature before the anthers, so that cross-fertilization is favoured in this species. After fertilization the flower droops, to be out of the way of the bees in their visits to the unfertilized blossoms. The petals in this species look as if their edges had been gnawed. The drupes are small, black, and very bitter, with a wrinkled stone. This is a northern species, coming not further south than Leicesters.h.i.+re and South Wales. All three species flower in late April or early May.

Cherry wood is strong, fine-grained, and of a red colour. It is easily worked, and susceptible of a high polish, so that it is in request by cabinet-makers, turners, and musical instrument makers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Pl. 98._ Flowers of Wild Apple.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Pl. 99._ Bird Cherry--winter.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Pl. 100._ Wild Pear--spring.]

The Wild Pear (_Pyrus communis_).

The Wild Pear is only to be found growing in the southern half of Britain, its northward range not extending beyond Yorks.h.i.+re, and even in the south its claim to be regarded as a true native has been contested.

Mr. Hewett C. Watson regards it as more probably a denizen, that is, a species originally introduced by man, which has maintained its hold upon the new land. Upon this a.s.sumption it is probable that the introduced specimens were already somewhat cultivated, but when they (or their descendants) became wild they reverted to the original condition of the species.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Wild Pear. A, flower.]

The Wild Pear, or Choke-pear, is a small tree, from twenty to sixty feet in height, of somewhat pyramidal form. The twigs, which are usually of a drooping tendency, are also much given to ending in spines--a character scarcely apparent in the cultivated tree. The leaves, too, of the wild tree are more distinctly toothed than those of the Garden Pear. They are oval in shape, with blunt-toothed edges, and downy on the lower surface.

Along the new shoots the leaves are arranged alternately on opposite sides, but on shoots a year old they are produced in cl.u.s.ters. The flowers, which measure more than an inch across, are pure white in colour, and are cl.u.s.tered in cymes of five to nine. They appear in April and May, and are of the Wild Rose type, there being numerous stamens, from three to five styles, which ripen before the stamens, five petals, and the calyx, taking the form of a pitcher with a five-lobed mouth, represents the five sepals.

In speaking of the Wild Plums we directed attention to the fact that the ovary was within the flower; in the Pear (and the other members of the genus _Pyrus_) it is below the flower, hidden away in fact within the calyx-tube. When the flower opens it is ready for fertilization, but as the stamens of that flower are not yet mature this can only be accomplished by pollen brought by the bees from other flowers as they rifle the honey-glands. The effect of pollination is to cause special vegetative activity in the neighbourhood of the ovary, resulting in the thickening of the flesh of the calyx-tube around it, until it has become of the characteristic pear-shape, and an inch or two in length. A section of a pear or apple, taken lengthwise, will show a faint green outline of the ovary, and will demonstrate how much of the flesh is really belonging to the calyx-tube. The fruit of the Wild Pear is green until about November, when it turns yellow. It is of too harsh a character to be fit for eating.

A Pear formerly known as a variety (_briggsii_) of _Pyrus communis_ is now regarded as a distinct species under the name of _Pyrus cordata_. It is found in Cornwall, and is distinguished by its more oval leaves being rounded at the base, and by its much smaller fruits being often globular.

The Pear is a long-lived tree, that grows singly or in small groups on dry plains. It attains a height of about fifty feet in thirty years, and its girth may then be three or four feet. The timber is fine-grained, strong and heavy, with a reddish tinge. Stained with black, it is used to counterfeit ebony.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Pl. 101._ Wild Apples.]

<script>