Crat^gus. ROSACEjE. 463 



with the ovaries. Ovaries 2-5, or sometimes solitary, mostly coherent 

 with each other, with 2 collateral ascending ovules : styles tcn-rninal, 

 sometimes colierent : stigma simple or emarginate. Fruit a porno, 1- 

 S-celled ; the cells sometimes spuriously divided by the inflexion of 

 the dorsal suture. Seeds 1-2 in each carpel (many in Cydonia). 

 — Trees or shrubs (confined to temperate climates), with simple or 

 sometimes pinnate leaves, which, except in Cotoneaster, do not con- 

 tain hydrocyanic acid. Fruit usually eatable. 



2G. CRATiEGUS. Linn. (excl. spec.) ; Lindl. in Lin. Irans. 13. ;;. 105. 



Calyx-tube urceolate; the limb 5-cleft. Petals 5, orbicular, spreading. 

 Stamens numerous. Styles 1-5, glabrous, or hairy at the base. Pome 

 fleshy or baccate, crowned with the teeth of the calyx, containing 1-5 bony 

 1 -seeded carpels ; the summit contracted or closed by the disk. — Thorny 

 slirubs or small trees, with sinij)le often incised or lobed leaves. Flowers in 

 tenninal corymbs, or rarely solitary, usually white. Bracts linear or subu- 

 late, deciduous. Fruit often eatable. — Thorn-tree. 



The fruit is sometimes more or less concave and open at the summit, as in Mes- 

 pilus Germanica, which perhaps is not gencrically distinct. — The leaves are subject 

 to considerable variation in aliiiost every species; and those of the young and 

 vigorous shoots are longer, mor.' incised or lobed, and often quite different in form 

 and appearance from those of the flowering branches: the stipules in the former 

 are much larger and foliaccous, and perhaps always glandular ; hut no depend- 

 ence can be placed on them for specific characters. The same may bo said of the 

 glands on the margin of the leaves and calyx. segments ; they may be observed in 

 all our species (except C. cordata, and even on the stipules of that plant) and they 

 are not uniformly present in any. The styles vary from 1 to 3, and from 3-5, in 

 many species ; and the fruit which would be globose when 5 carpels ripen, is 

 sometimes ovoid when 2 or 3 of the carpels are suppressed. Good characters 

 may, however, be derived from the fruit, as also from the calj'x, the inflorescence, 

 and, to a certain extent, from the leaves. Notwithstanding these difiiculties, we 

 consider the North American species as mostly well characterized. The uncer- 

 tainty which has prevailed concerning them, is to bo attributed in no small degree 

 to the confusion in the synonomy ; and this we have fortunately had the moans of 

 rectifying to a considerable extent. 



* Corymbs many-flowered. 



■■^- 1. C. Oxyacanth a {hirm.) : leaves obovate, 3-5-lobed, incised and serrate, 

 ' cuneiform at the base, shining, and, with the branchlets and peduncles, gla- 

 brous ; segments of the calyx ovate, acute or acuminate, not glandular ; 

 styles 1-3; fruit (deep red or purple) ovoid, small. — Linn. I spec. 1. p. 477; 

 F'l. Dan. t. 334; Engl. hot. t. 2054 ; Schk. handb. t. 132; Darlingt.fl. 

 Cest.p. 294. 



Road-sides, fence-rows, &c., introduced from Europe and sparingly natu- 

 ralized. It also exists in Newfoundland, but was probably introduced. 

 — Haivthorn. English Thorn. 



-^ 2. C. Crus-galli (Linn.) : leaves obovate-cuneiform, shining, coriaceous, 

 glabrous, nearly sessile, serrate, entire near the base ; si)ines very long ; pe- 

 duncles and pedicels glabrous or nearly so ; styles 1-3 ; fruit (red) somewhat 

 pyrifonn. — Linn.! spec. I. p. 47G ; Ait. ! Keic. {ed. 1.) 2. p. 170 ; Willd. ! 

 spec. 2. p. 1004 ; Michx. ! ft. 1. j}- 288 ; Pursh,fl. l.p. 338 ; Ell. sk. l.p. 



