Genus CRATAEGUS, Lindl. 
Rosacea?. 
Syst. Nat. 
Cratoegus, Mespilus, 
Synonymes. 
Neflier, Aubepine, Alizier, 
Mispel, 
Cratego, Spino, 
Thorn, Hawthorn, 
Icosandria Di-Pentagynia. 
Syst. Lin. 
Of Authors. 
France. 
Germany. 
Italy. 
Britain and Anglo- America. 
Derivation. The name Cratmgus is derived from the Greek kratos, strength, in reference to the hardness and strength f 
(he wood. 
Generic Characters. Fruit ovate, not spreadingly open at the top. Carpels 15 prismatic nuts, with 
bony shells, each including 1 seed. Leaves angled or toothed ; in most cases, deciduous. Flowers in 
terminal corymbs. Loudon, Arboretum. 
[N viewing the various genera of hardy ligneous plants, cultivated 
in the gardens and shrubberies of Europe and America, not one, 
taken as a whole, can be compared with that of the Crataegus. 
It consists of small, spiny shrubs or low trees, mostly natives of 
Europe, Asia, northern Africa, and of North America. All the 
species flower and fruit freely, their wood is hard and durable, 
and The plants are of considerable longevity. They may all be trained, at the 
pleasure of the cultivator, either as small, handsome, exceedingly picturesque 
trees, or as beautiful gardenesque shrubs. Their mode of growth is orderly, neat, 
and characteristic, being neither so slow as to convey the idea of want of vigour, 
nor so rapid and robust as to be considered as coarse and rambling. Their leaves 
are remarkably neatly cut, and finely tufted; but are subject to considerable 
variation in almost every species, particularly when young. The flowers, in 
some kinds, appear in masses so abundant, as almost to cover the entire plant; 
and the fruit is produced in as great abundance as the flowers. The colour of 
the blossoms is generally white, more or le'ss fragrant, and in some cases, as in 
the double-flowered hawthorn, as they die off, are of a very fine pink. The 
fruit, which is usually red, and sometimes yellow, black, or green, including 
many varieties of shade, varies in size, from the smallness of a grain of mustard- 
seed, as in the Crataegus spathulata, to the bigness of a large golden pippin, as in 
the Crataegus mexicana. The fruit of several species, such as that of the Cra- 
taegus azarolus, aronia, odoratissima, aestivalis, and tanacetifolia, is agreeable to 
the palate ; and that of all the species is greedily devoured by singing birds. All 
the species may be propagated from seeds, by grafting, or inoculation, and will 
grow on any soil that is tolerably dry ; but they will not grow vigorously in a 
soil that is not deep and free, and rich, rather than poor. Whether employed as 
small trees, or as shrubs, they are all admirably adapted for planting grounds of 
limited extent; and especially for small gardens in the neighbourhood of cities 
and large towns. Finally, were a man to be exiled to an estate without a single 
shrub or tree, with permission to choose only one genus of ligneous plants, to 
form all his plantations, shrubberies, orchards, and flower-gardens, it is probable 
that he could not find a genus that would afford him so many resources as that 
of the Crataegus.* 
* See Loudon's Arboretum Britannicum, ii., p. 814. 
