ICOSANDRIA— PENTAGYNIA. Mespilus. 359 



folia of Alton, Pursh, &c., unites these two genera, to 

 say notliing of other species. Nobody can be more 

 aware than I am of the cUfliculties my ingenious friend 

 just(|uoted has here had to encounter, or of the skill with 

 which he has met them, though we may differ in opinion 

 about some of his genera. 



i. M. Oxyacantlia, Hawthorn, Whitethorn, or May. 



Thorny. Leaves obtuse, variously three-lobed, serrated, 

 smooth. Styles about two. 



M. Oxyacantha. GceHn. v. 2. 43. i. 87. Fl. Dr. 529. Engl. Bot. 



y.35. ^. 2504. HulLedrl. \Ah. He/M.\90. 

 M. n. 1087. Hall. Hist. v. 2. 30. 

 M. apii folio sylvestris spinosa, sive Oxyacantlui. Bauh. Pin. 454. 



Rtiii Si/n. 453. 

 Crat'cegus Oxyacantha. Linn. Sp. PL G83. mild. v. 2. 1005. 



Huds. 214. With. 459. Huok. Scot. 151. H. Dan. t. 634. 



Jacq. Justr. t. 292./. 2. Ehrh. Arb. 34 . 

 C. monogyiia. Jacq. Austr. t.292.f. I. Sibth. 15G. Abbot 108. 



Purton 235. E/irh. Arb. 44. 

 Oxyacanthus. Ger. Em. 1327 .f. 



Acuta spina. Matth. Valgr. v. 1. 148./. Camcr. Epit. 85./. 

 Sorbus aculeata. Cord. Hist. 176./ 

 /3. Mcspihis apii folio sylvestris spinosa^ folio ct fructu majore. 



Dill, in Rnii Sijn. 454. 

 y. Ghistonbury Thorn. If'itli. 459, 



In thickets, copses, hedges, and high open fields, every where. 



Shrub or small tree. May, June. 



Tlie inood is very hard, with a smooth blackish bark. Branches with 

 lateral, sharp, awl-shaped tliorns. Leaves alternate, deciduous, 

 on longish slender stalks, smootli, deep green, veiny, an inch or 

 two long; tapering at the base; more or less deeply 3-lol)(d, 

 or 5-Iohe(l, cut and serrated, wedge-shaped or rounded. Sti- 

 pulas crescent-shaped, cut, deciduous, variable in sizcj in y ac- 

 cording to Dr. Wiliiering very large, /'/.corymbose, terminal, 

 on smootli stalks here and tliere glandular, sweet-scented, wliite, 

 occiLsionally pink or almost scarlet. Anth. pink, changing to 

 black. Styles 1 or 2 in different flowers of tlie same bunch, 

 sometimes 3. fn/i^ mealy, insipid, dark red, occasionally yel- 

 low J its cells as many ;us the styles, furrowed externally and 

 very hard. The value of this plant for fences is well known. 

 It is raised abundantly from seed, and bears elij)i)ing to any ex- 

 tent. Hirds are fed with the fruit all winter long. 



.lacquin's ('. On/r/an/Z/uf has rounder broatler leaves than the more 

 common variety, his tnonogyna, rcj)resente<l in Eni^l. Hot. lUit 

 repealed csaminalion has satisfied me, and many other KngHsh 

 botanists, thil flowens with a single stvle are e<[u;dly fre<|uent 



