Genus CRATAEGUS, Lindl. 



Rosacecr. Icosandria DL-Pontap:}'nia. 



Si/tt. Nat. " Hynt. Lin, 



Synonymes. 



Crateegus, Mespilus, Or Authors. 



Nt'tlicr, Aubepine, Alizier, France. 



Mispel, Germant. 



Cratego, Spino, Italy. 



Thorn, Hawthorn, Britain and Anglo-America. 



Derirotion. The name Crateegus \s derived from the Greek kratos, slronglh, In reference lo the hardness and strength f 

 I lie wood. 



Generic Characters. Fruit ovate, not spreadingly open at the top. Carpels 1 5 prismatic nuts, with 

 bony shells, each including^ 1 seed. Leaves angled or toothed; in raoat cases, deciduous. Flowers in 

 terminal corymbs. Loudon, Arboretum. 



J\ viewing the various genera of hardy Hgneous plants, cultivated 

 in the gardens and shrubberies of Europe and America, not one, 

 taken as a whole, can be compared with that of the Crataegus. 

 It consists of small, spiny shrubs or low trees, mostly natives of 

 Europe, Asia, northern Africa, and of North America. All the 

 _^ - species flower and fruit freely, their wood is hard and durable, 



and tiie jjlauts are of considerable longevity. They may all be trained, at the 

 pleasure of the cultivator, either as small, handsome, exceedingly picturesque 

 trees, or as beautiful gardenesque shrubs. Their mode of growth is orderly, neat, 

 and characteristic, being neither so slow as to convey the idea of want of vigour, 

 nor so rapid and robust as to be considered as coarse and rambling. Their leaves 

 are remarkably neatly cut, and finely tufted ; but are subject to considerable 

 variation iu almost every species, particularly when young. The flowers, in 

 some kinds, appear in masses so abundant, as almost to cover the entire plant; 

 and the fruit is produced in as great abundance as the flowers. The colour of 

 the blossoms is generally white, more or less fragrant, and in some cases, as in 

 the double-flowered hawthorn, as they die off", are of a very fine pink. The 

 fruit, which is usually red, and sometimes yellow, black, or green, including 

 many varieties of shade, varies in size, from the smallness of a grain of mustard- 

 seed, as in the Crataegus spathulata, to the bigness of a large golden pippin, as in 

 the Crataegus mexicana. The fruit of several species, such as that of the Cra- 

 taegus azarolus, aronia, odoratissima, aestivalis, and tanacetifolia, is agreeable to 

 the palate ; and that of all the species is greedily devoured by singing birds. All 

 the species may be propagated from seeds, by grafting, or inoculation, and will 

 grow on any soil that is tolerably dry ; but they will not grow vigorously in a 

 soil that is not deep and free, and rich, rather than poor. Whether employed as 

 small trees, or as shrubs, they are all admirably adapted for planting grounds of 

 limited extent; and especially for small gardens in the neighbourhood of cities 

 and large towns. Finally, were a man to be exiled to an estate without a single 

 shrub or tree, with permission to choose only one genus of ligneous plants, to 

 form all his plantations, shrubberies, orchards, and flower-gardens, it is probable 

 that he could not find a genus that would afford him so many resources as that 

 of the Crataegus.* 



* See Loudon's Arboretum Britannicum, ii., p. 814. 



