Tree large, vigorous; top spreading, drooping, open; trunk thick, shaggy; branches stout, zigzag, greenish-brown, with a slight covering of scarf-skin marked with many conspicuous, elongated lenticels; branchlets slender, with long internodes, brownish-red, tinged with green and with thin, ash-gray scarf-skin, glabrous, with many unusually conspicuous, raised lenticels. Leaf-buds sharply pointed, plump, thick at the base, free; leaf-scars prominent. Leaves 4-1/8 in. long, 2-5/8 in. wide, thick, leathery; apex taper-pointed; margin tipped with very fine reddish-brown glands, finely serrate; petiole thick, 2 in. long, lightly pubescent, greenish-red. Flower-buds thick, short, conical, plump, free, arranged singly on very short spurs; flowers with a disagreeable odor, bloom in mid-season, 1-1/4 in. across, averaging 7 buds in a cluster; calyx-lobes long, narrow, acuminate, glandular, reflexed, lightly pubescent within and without; petals broadly oval, entire, apex rounded; pistils 4 or 5, from a common base, longer than the stamens, pubescent at base; stamens 1/4 in. long, with dull red anthers; pedicels 1-1/2 in. long, slender, thinly pubescent, pale green. Fruit ripe February-March; 2-1/4 in. long, 2-1/8 in. wide, round, slightly pyriform, irregularly ribbed, with unequal sides; stem 1-1/2 in. long, curved, slender; cavity acute, deep, narrow, furrowed, lipped; calyx deciduous; basin shallow, wide, obtuse, gently furrowed or wrinkled; skin tough, smooth, waxy; color lemon-yellow, with russet lines and nettings and many russet specks; dots numerous, small, conspicuous, brownish-russet; flesh yellowish-white, very granular, crisp, tough, juicy, with a peculiar aroma unlike that of the common pear; poor in quality. Core large, open, axile, with clasping core-lines; calyx-tube short, wide, conical; seeds roundish, of medium size, wide, plump, obtuse. The Sand pear differs from the type in fruit and foliage. The pears are much larger and are commonly apple-form as shown in the accompanying plate, but trees bearing pyriform fruits are not unknown. The leaves are larger and broader. Rehder, who separated this form from its species, writes, "The Japanese pear cultivated under the name Madame Von Siebold may be considered as representing the type of this variety." These pears are known to pomologists under several names; as Chinese Sand, Sand, Japanese, Hawaii, Sha Lea, Gold Dust, Mikado, and Diamyo, although it is possible that the last three are hybrids. The pear illustrated and described in this text as a representative of this botanical variety came from seed sent from Manchuria.