SHRUBS BELONGING TO THE ROSE FAMILY. 65 



cies are common in the North, the rest are South- 

 ern. 



The scarlet-fruited thorn (OratoBgut coccinea) ap- 

 pears frequently on the borders of the highway near 

 the old farmhouse, and we may recognize it at once 

 by its ornamentally notched and toothed leaf, and its 

 dull-scarlet, tiny, apple -shaped fruit. The branches 

 are beset with thorns about an inch long. Another 

 species (Cratcegus Crus-galli) bears thorns from two 

 to four inches long, and also small apple-shaped fruit. 

 The leaves are wedge-shaped, thick, and dark green. 

 This species is frequently found in the thickets by 

 the roadsides throughout the North. But one of the 

 handsomest of the thorns is called Cratcegus mollis 

 (C. S. Sargent). This has large leaves, flowers, and 

 fruit; it is commonly planted in parks. It blooms 

 fully two weeks earlier than C. coccinea, and may 

 readily be distinguished from that species by its 

 densely woolly or hairy shoots. Its range is from 

 eastern Massachusetts to Missouri and Texas. Chief 

 among the thorns which are planted in our parks is 

 the English hawthorn (Cratcegus oxyacantha) ; but 

 this is too well known to need description here. 

 There are kinds with double pink or white flowers. 

 Two other species are also found in the North and 

 West, named Cratcegus tomentosa and Cratcegus punc- 

 tata ; the former is characterized by small ill- seen ted 



