268 
and from cuttings. Cytisus purpureus appears as a dense tuft of 
twigs suggestive of witch’s broom. The hybrid has very much the 
general aspect and foliage of a Laburnum, but the raceme is shorter, 
the flowers are purplish, and, so far as I have observed, invariably 
sterile, 
CRATAEGO-MESPILUS DARDARI, Simon-Louis. 
During the May and June just past there has flowered at Kew a 
tree which shows much the same peculiarities as Laburnum Adami. 
t is known as Crataego-mespilus Dardari and is a graft hybrid 
between the common hawthorn (Crataegus Oxyacantha) and the 
medlar (Mespilus germanica). It first appeared on an old medlar 
tree growing in the garden of M. Dardar at Bronvaux near 
Metz, that had been grafted on a stock of hawthorn. A branch 
was noticed originating from just beneath the graft which showed 
characters intermediate between those of hawthorn and medlar. 
The leaves and fruits, although smaller, were those of the medlar, 
but the branches were spiny and the flowers appeared in corymbs 
as in the hawthorn. The branch’ was propagated in the nursery of 
Messrs. Simon-Louis of Metz, and the plants so obtained are now 
known as C.-m. Dardari. This is represented by the lowest branch 
in the illustration. (Plate 1). 
CRATAEGO-MESPILUS ASNIERESII, Simon-Louis. 
Issuing from nearly the same place on M. Dardar’s tree at Bron- 
vaux was another branch quite unlike the first but also intermediate 
between hawthorn and medlar. The leaves on this branch 
were lobed, and the flowers in form and arrangement resembled 
those of the hawthorn; but the leaves, branchlets and calyx were 
pubescent, as in the medlar. From this shoot was derived the trees 
now called Crataego-mespilus Asnieresii. The full-page Plate 2 
represents the Kew specimen in flower—a tree of great elegance 
and beauty, and the uppermost spray illustrated on Plate 1 is 
also of this form, This second graft hybrid leans more towards the 
hawthorn, whilst C.-m. Dardari more resembles the medlar. 
Since 1898, C.-m. Dardari has shown the same tendency to break 
up as Laburnum Adami has always done, and the three quite 
distinct flowering branches illustrated on Plate 1 were all gathered 
from the one Kew specimen on June 1, 1911, The uppermost 
branch is exactly identical with C.-m. Asnieresii, the middle one is 
pure medlar, and the lowest is C.-m. Dardari itself. The bulk of 
the tree remains true and there is at present only one branch of 
each of the other two on our tree. The whole phenomenon bears 
considerable analogy to that exhibited by Laburnum Adami except 
that only one of the parents is reproduced true. So far as I have 
observed no pure hawthorn has appeared on either C.-m. Dardari 
or C.-m. Asnieresii. In fact the specimen of the latter at Kew now 
figured has hitherto remained quite true to the hybrid type. It is, 
however, quite probable that it may at any time “sport” as 
C.-m. Dardari has done—may, indeed, have already done so in other 
gardens. It should also be mentioned that on M. Dardar’s mother 
tree at Bronvaux a third branch appeared beneath the graft, which 
