Index    Handbook of the Trees of New England by Lorin Low Dame, Henry Brooks

Pyrus Americana, DC. Mountain Ash.

Sorbus Americana, Marsh.

Habitat and Range.—River banks, cool woods, swamps, and mountains.

Maine,—common; New Hampshire,—common along the watersheds of the Connecticut and Merrimac rivers and on the slopes of the White mountains; Vermont,—abundant far up the slopes of the Green mountains; Massachusetts,—Graylock, Wachusett, Watatic, and other mountainous regions; rare eastward; Rhode Island and Connecticut,—occasional in the northern sections.

Habit.—A small tree, 15-20 feet high, often attaining in the woods of northern Maine and on the slopes of the White mountains a height of 25-30 feet, with a trunk diameter of 12-15 inches; reduced at its extreme altitudes to a low shrub; head, in open ground, pyramidal or roundish; branches spreading and slender.

Bark.—Closely resembling bark of P. sambucifolia.

Winter Buds and Leaves.,—Buds more or less scythe-shaped, acute, smooth, glutinous. Leaves pinnately compound, alternate; stem grooved, enlarged at base, reddish-brown above; stipules deciduous; leaflets 11-19, 2-4 inches long, bright green above, paler beneath, smooth, narrow-oblong or lanceolate, the terminal often elliptical, finely and sharply serrate above the base; apex acuminate; base roundish to acute and unequally sided; sessile or nearly so, except in the odd leaflet.

Inflorescence.—In terminal, densely compound, large and flattish cymes; calyx 5-lobed; petals 5, white, roundish, short-clawed; stamens numerous; ovary inferior; styles 3.

Fruit.—Round, bright red, about the size of a pea, lasting into winter.

Horticultural Value.—Hardy throughout New England; prefers a good, well-drained soil; rate of growth slow and nearly uniform. It is readily transplanted and would be useful on the borders of woods, in plantations of low trees, and in seaside exposures. Rare in nurseries and seldom for sale by collectors. The readily obtainable and more showy European P. aucuparia is to be preferred for ornamental purposes.

Plate LVII.—Pyrus Americana.