=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. [Illustration: PLATE LVII.--Pyrus Americana.] 1. Winter buds. 2. Flowering branch. 3. Flower with part of perianth and stamens removed. 4. Petal. 5. Fruiting branch. =Pyrus sambucifolia, Cham. & Schlecht.= _Sorbus sambucifolia, R[oe]m._ MOUNTAIN ASH. =Habitat and Range.=--Mountain slopes, cool woods, along the shores of rivers and ponds, often associated with _P. Americana_, but climbing higher up the mountains. From Labrador and Nova Scotia west to the Rocky mountains, then northward along the mountain ranges to Alaska. Maine,--abundant in Aroostook county, Piscataquis county, Somerset county at least north to the Moose river, along the boundary mountains, about the Rangeley lakes and locally on Mount Desert Island; New Hampshire,--in the White mountain region; Vermont,--Mt. Mansfield, Willoughby mountain (Pringle); undoubtedly in other sections of these states; to be looked for along the edges of deep, cool swamps and at considerable elevations. South of New England, probably only as an escape from cultivation; west through the northern tier of states to the Rocky mountains, thence northward along the mountain ranges to Alaska and south to New Mexico and California. =Habit.=--A shrub 3-10 feet high, or small tree rising to a height of 15-25 feet, reaching its maximum in northern New England, where it occasionally attains a height of 30-35 feet, with a trunk diameter of 15 inches. It forms an open, wide-spreading, pyramidal or roundish head, resembling the preceding species in the color of bark, in foliage and fruit. Whether these are two distinct species is at the present problematical, as there are many intermediate forms, and the same tree sometimes furnishes specimens that would indubitably be referred to different species.