PYRUS SORBUS, True Service[1]
- Pyrus Sorbus, Gaertner,[2] De Fruct. ii. 43, t. 87 (1791), Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. ii. 921 (1838).
- Pyrus domestica, Ehrhart,[2] "Plantag," 20, ex Beiträge zur Naturkunde, vi. 95 (1791); Smith, Eng. Bot. t. 550 (1796).
- Sorbus domestica, Linnæus, Sp. Pl. 477 (1753).
- Cormus domestica, Spach, Hist. Vég. Phan. ii. 97 (1834).
A tree, attaining a height of 60 to 80 feet. Bark, like that of the common pear, dark brown, Assuring longitudinally, and scaling off in narrow, rectangular plates. Leaves pinnate: 6 to 9 pairs of sessile leaflets and a terminal stalked leaflet. Leaflets linear oblong, almost equal-sided at the base, and acute at the apex, serrate with acuminate teeth, except towards the base where they are entire; dull green above, paler below, glabrous on both surfaces when mature, some pubescence often, however, remaining underneath. Flowers white, in short pubescent corymbs; styles 5, united at the base and woolly in their whole length. Fruit either pear- or appleshaped, generally green, tinted with red on one side, 5-celled, about an inch in diameter.
The fruit apparently varies much in flavour, but in good varieties is agreeable though astringent. The French proverb, Ils ne mangent que les cormes, applied to destitute persons, would indicate that the fruit was poor; and this is doubtless often the case. In parts of France a perry is made from them, and they are also preserved dry like prunes. At Vevay[3] in Switzerland there are avenues planted, consisting of service trees of various kinds; and the brilliancy of the fruit and of the hues of the foliage in October give a very fine effect.
Varieties
Two well-marked forms occur, one maliformis,[4] with apple-shaped fruit, the other pyriformis,[4] with pear-shaped fruit. There would seem, however, to be in France, though little known to planters in general, varieties which produce fruit of a superior kind. Two of these are strongly recommended by a writer in the Journal of the French National Horticultural Society:[5] one discovered on the estate of M. Dufresne, near Bordeaux, which has large pyriform fruits of a carmine yellow, produced in large bunches and excellent in flavour, as soon as they commence to mellow; the other was also found growing wild in woods belonging to M. Lafitte at Agen, which has fruit of a bright pink colour.
- ↑ Service is commonly derived from the Latin cerevisia, a drink said to have been formerly made of berries of the different species of Sorbus, or to have been flavoured with their leaves. C. Woolley Dod controverts this view in Gard. Chron. 1890, vii. 87, and holds that service is simply a corruption of sorbus, and that cerevisia, a drink, according to Pliny, made of cereal grain in Gaul, was ordinary malt ale.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Gaertner's and Ehrhart's names were both published in the same year. Gaertner's preface antedates that of Ehrhart by a few days. Nothing is known for certain of the pamphlet "Plantag" cited by Ehrhart. Which name has priority of publication is uncertain.
- ↑ Woods and Forests, July 16, 1884.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Loddiges, Catalogue, ex Loudon, loc. cit.
- ↑ Quoted in Garden, 1886, xxx. 89.
