104 Rose ( Rosacece) 



" T is commonly say'd, in Germany, that the Witches 

 doe meet in the night before the first day of May, upon 

 an high mountain called the Blocks-berg ; and the com- 

 mon people doe the night before ye said day fetch a 

 certain Thorn, and stick it at their house-door, believing 

 the witches can then doe them no harm." AUBREY. 



Fig. 42. White Thorn. Scarlet-Fruited Thorn. Red Haw. 



C. coccinea, L. 



Flowers, about two thirds of an inch across, white (often 

 with a rosy tinge), twelve or so in a bunch, with a 

 strong and rather disagreeable odor. May. 



Leaves, with five to nine deep cuts, almost forming small 

 lobes, usually one and a half to two and a half inches 

 long, but variable in size even on the same tree, thin, 

 smooth, shining. Base, usually slightly pointed, but 

 often blunt or slightly heart-shaped. Leaf-stem, 

 slender (in var. macracdntha, Dudley, stout), and 

 often with small wart-like glands. Branchlets, usually 

 greenish, or whitish as though washed with silver. 

 Thorns, one to two inches long, stout, often whitish, 

 usually slightly curved. 



Fruit, nearly half an inch in diameter, rounded or egg- 

 shape ; bright red or purple, with thin pulp. Some- 

 what edible. September. 



Found, through the Atlantic forests southward to Northern 



Florida and Eastern Texas. 

 A shrub (or often a low tree) ten to twenty feet high, 



with crooked and spreading branches ; very common in 



the North, rare in the South. 



Var. mollis T. and G., with its leaves downy, at least on 



the under side, and with its red fruit large and downy, is 



found from Central Michigan southward and westward. 



