The Hawthorns 



The hawthorns are a shrubby race o( trees, under-sized, as a 

 rule, with stiff, zigzag branches, set with thorns. The leaves are 

 simple, alternate, deciduous, usually cut into sharp lobes, and saw 

 teeth. The flowers are generally white, and set in terminal 

 corymbs on side branchlets. The fruits are drupe-like pomes, 

 with bony nutlets containing the seeds. As a rule fruits are red; 

 in a few species they are orange; still fewer, yellow, blue or black. 

 The flesh is generally mealy and dry. The nutlets are joined at 

 their bases, and are variously grooved and ridged. 



The stamens are normally five in a circle, set alternate with 

 the petals. There may be five pairs, similarly placed. Or fifteen 

 may occur, in two rows, twenty in three, or twenty-five in four 

 circles. These are the typical arrangements. When not in fives, 

 some stamens have failed to develop. The number of stamens, 

 their arrangement and the colour of their anthers, is considered by 

 Professor Sargent an important clue to relationship. The grooves 

 and ridges on the nutlets form another constant and significant 

 character on which his classification is based. 



The generic name, Crataegus, is derived from kratos, the Greek 

 word for strength, and refers to the hard, tough wood. 



The centre of distribution for the hawthorns is undoubtedly 

 the eastern United States. From Newfoundland to Mexico they 

 abound in great variety. A few species are found on the Pacific 

 coast and in the Rocky Mountains. Europe and Asia have a few. 



It is remarkable that trees so conspicuous as these should 

 until lately be so little known. Linnaeus named four American 

 species. Professor Sargent described fourteen only in Vol. IV. of 

 "The Silva of North America." In Vol. XIII., the supplement, 

 issued in 1900, seventy-three species were added to those described 

 in Vol. IV., bringing his total up to eighty-seven. In his " Manual" 

 published in 1905, Professor Sargent describes and gives rank as 

 species to 128 hawthorns native to the United States. These are 

 divided into eighteen groups by characters set forth in the key. 

 I have chosen a typical species to illustrate each group, and added 

 only such others as have distinction and horticultural promise. 

 The fact that Professor Sargent knows this genus better than any- 

 one else has been my reason for borrowing his key almost un- 

 changed. 



The whole story of the hawthorns and their relationships can- 

 not be told by any man now living. Nor can present knowledge 



