CRAT^GUS 429 



C. MOLLIS, Scheele. RED HAW. 



A tree up to 30 or 40 ft. high, with a wide-spreading head of smooth, grey 

 branches; young branchlets covered with whitish hairs the first season; thorns 

 i to 2 ins. long. Leaves broadly ovate, rounded, truncate or heart-shaped 

 at the, base, pointed, with four to seven shallow lobes at each side, and very 

 sharply glandular-toothed : 2 to 4^ ins. long, and nearly or quite as broad ; 

 both surfaces, but especially the lower one, downy, the upper becoming rather 

 rough in the latter part of the season ; stalk i to 2 ins. long. Flowers white, 

 i in. across ; flower-stalks and calyx thickly coated with white hairs ; calyx- 

 lobes toothed and glandular, stamens about twenty ; anthers pale yellow ; 

 styles four or five. Fruit sub-globose, f to i in. diameter, red, downy. 



Native of the Central United States ; long introduced, but much confused 

 with C. coccinea, a thorn with shoots glabrous, leaves more or less tapered at 

 the base, flowers with only ten stamens, and fruit only i in. across. C. mollis 

 is also well distinguished by its larger leaves being always downy (very much 

 so when young). As a flowering tree it is one of the most beautiful of thorns, 

 and as a fruit-bearer is also handsome, but its fruits drop early (in September), 

 a month or six weeks in front of those of C. coccinea. 



C. mollis is made the type of a group of American thorns by Sargent, 

 which contains a number of very fine species, amongst which the following 

 may be mentioned : 



C. ARKANSANA, Sargent. A tree 20 ft. high, native of Arkansas ; differing 

 from C. mollis in the fruits being of longer, more oblong shape, and ripening 

 in October ; the leaves also are generally more tapered at the base. I saw 

 a fine specimen in the Arnold Arboretum a few years ago, and was struck by 

 its great elegance of habit. Introduced in 1902. 



C. ARNOLDIANA, Sargent. A tree 15 to 20 ft. high, native of Massachusetts 

 and Connecticut, with apparently a very local distribution. This species has 

 only ten stamens to each flower. Introduced in 1901. It is a sturdy tree 

 with a dense head of very thorny zigzag branches ; thorns up to 3 ins. long. It 

 is thriving vigorously in this country. 



C. CHAMPLAINENSIS, Sargent, a native of E. Canada, introduced in 1901, 

 has also ten stamens to each flower ; leaves of the barren shoots more heart- 

 shaped at the base than in C. Arnoldiana. 



C. MOXOGYNA, Jacquin. COMMON HAWTHORN or MAY. 



The common hawthorn, as popularly known, consists of two very distinct 

 forms now usually regarded as separate species, viz., C. monogyna and 

 C. Oxyacantha (g.v.}. C. monogyna is the commoner one, and is distinguished 

 from the other by being, as a rule, a larger tree (up to 35 ft.) ; its leaves 

 are larger and more deeply three- to seven-lobed ; its flowers have but one 

 style, and its fruits but one stone. The fruit also is rounder and less 

 elongated. It is, within its own limits, a very variable tree, and numerous 

 named varieties are in cultivation. Many of these have little interest or 

 value ; the best and most distinct are noted below. Although the typical 

 forms of Oxyacantha and monogyna are absolutely distinct, they are united 

 by others of an intermediate character, having flowers with one or more styles, 

 and fruits with one or more stones. Those who regard the two as a single 

 species have much to support their view. 



Cratasgus monogyna, being more formidably armed than C. Oxyacantha, 

 is the one in common use for making hedges. On the whole, it may safely 

 be said that no other tree or shrub is, in our climate, so good for the purpose. 

 Easily raised, transplanting well when small, and bearing any amount of clipping, 



