Service Tree
the Pyrus sorbus or domestica, a native of Continental Europe and western Asia. It has serrate leaves, unequally pinnate, and creamcolored flowers. It is from 20 to 60 feet high. Two varieties, the pear-shaped, P. S. pyriformis, and the apple-shaped, P. S. maliformis, are cultivated in parts SERVIUS TULLIUS of France and near Genoa for their fruit.
Also Pyrus (sorbus) torminalis, the wild service tree. It is a small tree growing in woods and hedges, but rare and local.
Flowers numerous, white, appearing in April and May. The fruit pyriform or sub-globose, greenish-brown, dotted. It is eatable, and is sold in parts of Europe.