THE HAWTHORN. 107 



lily; the pasque-flower is so called from its being- met 

 with about Easter, the great paschal feast. 



The hawthorn, though ordinarily seen as a hedgerow 

 plant, may at times be found as a small tree. When thus 

 met with it is a sufficiently striking object, and altogether 

 different from the plant that has suffered the restraint and 

 discipline of the clipping shears. The branches are often 

 wonderfully gnarled and twisted together, and have a look 

 of strength and hoar antiquity that bespeaks respect. In 

 most forests, these old hawthorns may be met with, and 

 during the early summer the air is fragrant with the de- 

 licious odour wafted from their countless blossoms. The 

 hawthorn will ordinarily be found fully in flower by about 

 the middle of May, and by about the middle of June the 

 last few blossoms will be fading. 



Before the alteration of the style, the hawthorn was 

 one of the great features of the decorations of the once 

 famous festivities of May-day. It is very rarely now found 

 in blossom so early, as the effect of the alteration of the 

 style was to throw the first of May many days earlier. 



Considerable variation of form may be met with in 

 the foliage and of colour in the flowers and fruit. The 

 leaves are stalked and divided into three or five seg- 

 ments; in some examples these are soft and flowing in 

 outline, while in others the forms are very acute, the 

 indentations very sharply defined. The flowers, though 

 ordinarily white, may at times be found of a more or 

 less decided pink or even crimson ; whatever their colour, 

 they are grouped in little clusters together on short leafy 

 branches given off at frequent intervals from the stem. 

 The form of inflorescence is that known botanically as a 

 corymb. Near Glastonbury Abbey stands an old haw- 



