[Improper shortening of White-beam (tree), so called from the white under-surface of its leaves, which strikingly characterize it in a wind.] A tree (Pyrus Aria) related to the Apple, Pear, and Wild Service, bearing flat corymbs of flowers, succeeded by rich scarlet berries.
1800. Sir J. Smith, Eng. Flora (1828), II. 366. Pyrus Aria, White Beam-tree, White Wild Pear-tree.
1830. Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 84. The timber of the Beam-tree is invaluable for axletrees.
1879. Prior, Plant-n., 16. Without the White prefixed … Beam-tree is a silly pleonasm, a tree-tree.
