MEDLAE HAWTHOBX. 107 



" Bowan," as they call tlie tree. The Welsh children term 

 it " Wiggin ; " they gather the berries, and the mothers make 

 sweet liquor of them. The leaves of this tree contain prussic 

 acid. Wordsworth speaks glowingly of the Mountain Ash : 



" No eye can overlook, when 'mid a grove 

 Of yet unfaded trees she lifts her head, 

 Decked -with autumnal berries that outshine 

 Spring's richest blossoms ; and ye may have marked 

 By a brook-side or solitary tarn, 

 How she her str tion doth adorn ; the pool 

 Glows at her feet, and all the gloomy rocks 

 Are brightened round her." 



The Medlar (Mespilus germanica, Jig. 8), is the next family 

 in the Apple group. I have a garden specimen of its one 

 representative, but it is the wild kind. The large blossoms 

 grow singly or in pairs, and the leaves standing on very short 

 footstalks close to them, form a heavy background. The fruit 

 is mild and mealy, and the core stony. The leaves are of a 

 long lance-shaped form. 



The Hawthorn (Cratsegus oxycantha, Plate VII., fig. 9), 

 is the one British representative of the last family in the great 

 Hose tribe. Its snowy clusters of fragrant blossoms, sharp- 

 lobed leaves, and red berries, do not need any description ; they 

 are familiar to us all from infancy. There is a town in the 

 north of Yorkshire called after the fruit of the Hawthorn 

 "Hawes." The bush abounds in its neighbourhood. The 

 Pink Hawthorn in plantations is a cultivated variety of this. 



The Greeks regarded the Hawthorn as an emblem of 

 hope ; the Romans used torches of it in their marriage feasts 

 and processions. A curious legend exists regarding a certain 

 Hawthorn at Glastonbury. It says that Joseph of Arimathea 

 came to preach in Britain, and landed upon the high grounds 

 near Glastonbury, which was then an island ; he fixed his staff 

 in the ground, and fell asleep. When he awoke the staff was 

 rooted and had borne leaves and flowers. He built a chapel 

 near the spot, and Gilpin says that the Thorn flowered always 

 at Christmas. But we have an historical association with 



