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Pomacea.

PYRUS SPECTABLIS.

A CHINESE PEAR.

Class XII. ICOSANDRIA. Order IV. PENTAGYNIA.

Gen. Char. Calyx, five-cleft. Petals, five. Pome, inferior, fivecelled, many seeded

Spe. Char. Leaves, ovate, oblong, acuminate, serrate, smooth. Umbells, simple, sessile. Claws of the corolla shorter than the calyx. Styles, smooth.

This species of pear is a native of China, where it attains the height of fifteen to twenty-five feet; the leaves are ovate, oblong, pointed, crenate, and stand in pairs; the flowers which appear so numerous, grow in clusters-they are large, aggregated, and at first of a blood red color, afterwards more pale, and at last, before the petals fall, they become almost entirely white; the petals are numerous, but do not exclude the existence of stamens, and pistils; pistils five; stamens more than twenty, all attached to the calyx— the number of the stamens is not always the same in all the flowers.

The pear tree which is co universally spread over both continents, has now become naturalized to many parts of the United States, where, with proper cultivation and a rich soil, it ripens its fruit and flourishes equally well, if not better, than in its native country, China. From history, we learn that it was introduced into England immediately after the first settlement of that country, from which time it has been constantly cultivated, and various improvements made by grafting and inoculation. The natural order pomaceæ, contain, according to the best authorities, nine hundred and

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