The Hawthorns 



by the rigid branches and their menacing thorns, give most of 

 these httle trees attractiveness at all seasons. Many species 

 are handsome and effective as hedge plants. Fine individual 

 trees for lawn planting are furnished by others. Hawthorns 

 are quick to grow in any soil and situation, and they show the 

 most remarkable improvement when encouraged by tillage and 

 a little fertilising. 'I hey do well in heavy clay. They are trans- 

 planted easily when young, from the wild; but having tap roots 

 are hard to dig, and less sure to survive transplanting when older. 

 They come readily from seed, though as a rule requiring two years 

 to germinate. 



I. Crus-galli 



r 



- Cockspur Thorn (Crataegus Crus-galli, Linn.) A small, 

 handsome tree, 15 to 25 feet high, with stiff branches in a broad, 

 round head. Thorns axillary, stout, often curved, brown or 

 grey, 3 to 4 inches long, often becoming 6 to 8 inches long and 

 branched when old. Bark grey or brown, scaly, branchlets 

 smooth, green, becoming brown, then grey. IVood brownish red, 

 close grained, hard, heavy, takes satiny polish. Buds small, 

 scaly, brownish red. Leaves thick, leathery, lustrous, dark green 

 above, paler beneath, i to 4 inches long, obovate; acute or rounded 

 and serrate at apex; entire below middle and tapering to the 

 stout petiole; veins netted; stipules paired, strap shaped, or 

 obliquely ovate, falling early. Autumn colours orange and 

 scarlet. Flowers, May to June, after leaves, in racemose corymibs, 

 loose, many-flowered, with smooth stems, blossoms spreading, 

 white, inch across; sepals and petals 5; stamens 10, vv'ith rose- 

 coloured anthers; styles usually 2. Fruit, October, remain till 

 spring, almost globular, 4- inch long, dull red, with dry, thin, 

 mealy flesh; calyx lobes dry and spreading at apex; nutlets 2, 

 deeply grooved on back. Preferred habitat, rich soil of low hill 

 slopes. Distribution, Montreal region to southern Michigan; 

 south to Delaware and Pennsylvania; along Appalachian foot- 

 hills into North Carolina. Uses: Cultivated as an ornamental 

 and in hedges in Europe and America. Wood used for tool han- 

 dles, levers, etc. 



Wherever a cockspur thorn is planted, in open lawn with 

 elbow room, or in a crowded shrubbery border, it keeps its char- 

 acter, and gives the passerby a distinct impression of something 



305 



