2IO ROSACEAE 



Native. Septal, &c. Hedges, woods, thickets, parks, &c. Abundant 

 and generally distributed. A small round-headed tree or hedge- 

 row bush. April-June. 

 First record. C. Oxyacantha. The most common and the best fence, 

 I)r. Mavors Agr. Berks, 1809. ' Lady East says she has gathered 

 to-day the Matj in flower near Purley, May 31, 1818.' Corresp. of 

 Sir James E. Smith. 



Var. oxYACANTHOiDES (Thuill. Fl. Par. ed. 2, 245, as a species), Syme, 

 1. c, t. 479. This form occurs plentifully in all the districts ; it has 

 usually from two to three styles, the fruit with two or three stones, 

 the peduncles and calyx normally glabrous, and the leaves less 

 divided. It has been seen at Wytham, Boar's Hill, Tubney, Faringdon, 

 Lockinge, Wittenham, Bagley, Moulsford, Yattendon, Ashampstead, 

 Bradfield, Newbury, Hungerford, Sulhampstead, Arborfield, Ruscomb, 

 Waltham, Bray, Stubbing's Heath, Windsor, &c. 



Var. MONOGYNA (Jacq. Fl. Austr. iii. 50, t. 292, 1775, as a species\ 

 Syme, 1. c, t. 480, has only one style and a one-stoned fruit, while the 

 peduncles and calyx tube are usually downy. This has been noticed 

 at Wytham, Besilsleigh, Tubney, Bagley, Radley, Kennington, West 

 Ilsley, Welford, Ashampstead, Pangbourn, Tilehurst, Hungerford, 

 Calcot Park, Inkpen, Finchampstead, Swallowfield, Wargrave, Stub- 

 bing's Heath, Windsor, Cranbourn Park, Easthampstead, &c. 



Var. LACiNiATA (Wallr. Sched. Crit. sub Mespilus), not C. laciniata^ 

 Stev. in Bess. Enum. PI. Volh. p. 38, appears to be made up of cut- 

 leaved forms of the preceding varieties, but chiefly from monogyna 

 forms. It has been noticed at Swallowfield by Mr. Tvfnail, at Cumnor, 

 Wytham, Steventon, Hungerford, Farley Hill, Maidenhead, &c. 



The /. rosea, so often cultivated as the crimson thorn, occurred once 

 as a sport at Uffington, where a bush of var. C. monogyna had a branch 

 with rose-coloured flowers. 



Mr. J. C. Melvill noticed a spineless form at Hurst in 1877. By 

 a process of sorting we can arrange our thoi-ns into groups, one 

 characterized by a single style {monogyna), the other with two or 

 more styles (^oxyacanthoides), but this by no means scientifically 

 meets the difficulty we have in describing the forms met with, for 

 we find that the one-styled form may have the calyx tube either 

 glabrous or hairy, and the leaves more or less cut, and the same 

 statement holds true of the two-styled plant. Mr. H. Baker, assistant 

 in the Oxford Herbarium, collected a considerable series from the 

 neighbourhood of Oxford, which showed the great variability of 

 the Hawthorn, but whether this is in consequence of the two extreme 

 forms hybridizing I am not prepared to say. It must be borne in 

 mind that fertile hybrids occur in this order. These forms diftered 

 not only in the manner alluded to, but also in leaf texture. The 



