440 



DECIDUOUS TREES. 



thorn, C. c. prunifolia, for short broad leaves, 

 fastigiate habit and showy red autumn foliage ; 

 the C. c. pyracanthafolia and the C. c. salirifloia, 

 or willow-leaved, are curiously low and broad 

 little trees ; and the C. c. nana is the smallest 

 dwarf of all. Fig. 146 shows the form of the 

 willow-leaved variety; which is one of the 

 prettiest of all the thorn trees, and is espe- 



cially noted for the level spread of its top. 



THE HAWTHORNS. Cratagus oxycantha. We quote the fol- 

 lowing from Loudon's Arboretum Britannicum : " The common 

 hawthorn, in its wild state, is a shrub or small tree with a smooth 

 bark, and very hard wood. The rate of growth when the plant is 

 young, and in a good soil and climate, is from one foot to two 

 or three feet a year for the first three or four years ; afterwards 

 its growth is slower, till it has attained the height of twelve or 

 fifteen feet, when its shoots are produced chiefly in a lateral 

 direction, tending to increase the width of the head of the tree, 

 rather than its height. In a wild state it is commonly found as 



