842 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART 111. 



Sepals serrated. Fruit 

 almost top-shaped, yel- 

 low, or yellowish gi-een. 

 Nuts 5. (Dec. Frod., ii. 

 p. 627.) A native of 

 North America; where, 

 according to Pursh, it 

 forms a low shrub in 

 sandy shady woods, from 

 New Jersey to Carolina. 

 The leaves, he says, are 

 small, and the frnit large, 

 and of a greenish yellow. 

 Seeds of this species 

 were sent from Virginia 

 by Banister, and plants 

 were raised from them in Bishop Compton's garden, at Fulham, pre- 

 viously to 1713: plants were afterwards raised by the Duke of Argyll 

 at Whitton ; in consequence of which it used formerly to be generally 

 called Lord Uey's thorn. It forms a shrub, .seldom exceeding 6 ft. or 

 7ft. in height; having numerous slender branches, interwoven with one 

 another, and armed with very long, slender, sharp thorns. The leaves are 

 scarcely an inch long, but they vary much in breadth on the same plant, 

 and in different seminal varieties. The flowers, which are white, are pro- 

 duced late in May and June ; and the fruit also ripens late, hanging on the 

 bushes all the winter. The largest plant that we know of this species is 

 at Ham House, where it is evidently of considerable age, and, on its own 

 root, has attained the height of 12 ft. ; at White Knights, there are stand- 

 ards of it in the park, grafted on the com- 

 mon hawthorn, which are from 8ft. tolOft. 

 high ; and, Iwth there and at Ham House, 

 they flower freely, and produce fruit every 

 year. 



Varieties. 



» C.p. 2fl6rida, C. florida Lodd. Cat., {fg. 



558. and fig. 613. in p. 867.) has the 



leaves and fruit somewhat smaller 



and rounder than those of the species, 

 a C. p. 3 grossularicefolia, C. linearis Lodd. Cat., (fig. 559. and fig. 616. 



in p. 867.) has the leaves lobed, and somewhat like those of the 



gooseberry. 

 These varieties run so much into 

 one another, that, unless they are 

 seen together in a living state, as 

 in Messrs. Loddiges's arboretum, 

 it is difficult to distinguish them 

 from the species, or from each 

 other; for, however different the 

 leaves may appear in our figures 

 (see p. 867.), all the forms of these 

 may occasionally be found on the 

 same plant ; and some plants of 

 each variety are wholly without 

 spines, while in others the spines 

 are very numerous. 



St 26. C. virgi'nica Lodd 



Identification. Lodd. Cat., cd. 1830, and ed. 1836. 

 Stfnonyme. C. virKiniina Horl. 

 Engravings. Fig. 560. ; andySg. 615. in p. 8fi7. 



The Virginian Thorn. 



