XXYII. 1. THE DOTTED-FRUITED THORN. 435 



Sp. 3. The Pear-leaved Thorn. C. tomenibsa. L. 



A much branched shrub usually eight or ten feet high, but, 

 when surrounded by other plants, eighteen or twenty, with 

 bark, on the branches and small trunks, of a bright reddish, pol- 

 ished green, or a shining brown, on the recent shoots dotted 

 with elliptic, raised, brown dots. The thorns are axillary, from 

 one to three inches long, and pointed. The flowers are large 

 and fragrant, on broad, leafy corymbs. The segments of the 

 calyx are long and slender and glandular-serrate, and, with 

 the flower-stem, downy. The styles are usually 3. The fruit 

 is large, orange red, pear-shaped. 



The leaves are of a firm, leathery texture, rather deeply fur- 

 rowed on the upper surface, large, sometimes five inches in 

 length and three in breadth ; ovoid, tapering rapidly at base 

 into a footstalk which is margined to the bottom ; doubly ser- 

 rate, sharply cut towards the extremity, which commonly ends 

 in an acute point ; downy on both surfaces when young, smooth 

 finally on the upper surface, but with the veins beneath perma- 

 nently covered with a short down. 



This is one of our most common and hardy thorns. It is 

 well fitted to form a part of a hedge, but is objectionable on ac- 

 count of the early fall of the leaf. It should, therefore, be min- 

 gled with sweet-briar and the buck-thorn. 



It flowers in May and June, and ripens its large fruit in Oc- 

 tober. Found from Canada to Kentucky. 



Sp. 4. The Dotted-fruited Thorn. C. punctata. Jacquin. 



A handsome shrub, eight to twelve feet high, rarely more, but 

 sometimes twenty or even twenty-five. The trunk, sometimes 

 straight, is usually contorted and zig-zag, covered with a rough, 

 much fissured bark. 



The recent shoots have the dark brown, polished bark, cha- 

 racteristic of the thorn ; the older branches are of a greenish 

 gray, smooth or channelled with many small grooves. Thorns 

 commonly long and stout, scythe-shaped. Leaves inversely 

 egg-shaped, rounded towards the extremity, and wedge-shaped 

 at base, tapering downwards and running along in a wing upon 



