96 



THE HAWTHORN. 



The Hawthorn, according to some etymologists, is s) 

 called from its fruit, or haiv : or, if Booth be correct, the 

 tree gives the name to the fruit ; the first syllable of the 

 word being a corruption of liage, or Iweg, and the word 

 itself signifies a hedge-thorn.^ Cratcegus and Oxyacantlia, 

 to which may be added Pyracantha, are the names by 



which the Greeks are 

 supposed to have de- 

 signated the tree. By 

 the Romans it appears 

 to have been called 

 Spina. Its French 

 name, Auhe-epine, re- 

 fers to its flowering 

 early in the spring, or 

 morning of the year ; 

 aube signifying " the 

 dawn of day." With 

 us it is known in- 

 differently by the 

 names, May-tree, May- 

 bush, from its season 

 of flowering, and from the important place which it held 

 in the old May games ; Quickthorn, Quickset, and simply 

 Quick, from its application to the construction of quick, or 

 live hedges, instead of dead branches of trees ; and White- 

 thorn, from the profusion of its white flowers. By some 

 botanists it is placed in the same genus with Mespilus the 

 Medlar, with which it has many botanical characters in 

 common. 



It is found in most parts of Europe, from the Mediter- 

 ranean to as far north as 601, in Sweden, in the north of 

 Africa, and in Western Asia. It was introduced many 

 years since into Australia, where it grows as luxuriantly 



1 Scott, in his "Discovery of "Witchcraft, " calls it "Hay-thorn." 

 Oratregus is from the Greek itpdros, strength. Oxyacantha signifies 

 sharp-thorn ; Pyracantha, fiery-thorn. 



HAWTHORN BLOSSOM. 



