CRAT^GUS 431 



sadness or perhaps pleasurable hope, the most glorious season of the year, 

 when, in Milton's words, 



44 ... The milkmaid singeth blythe, 

 And the mower whets his scythe, 

 And every shepherd tells his tale, 

 Under the hawthorn in the dale." 



Var. RAMULIS AUREIS. Branches yellow. 



Var. REGIN^E. A name given to the descendants of a tree which once grew 

 in a garden near Edinburgh that . belonged to the Regent Murray. Mary, 

 Queen of Scots, was said to have spent many hours beneath it. It is, 

 apparently, ordinary C. monogyna. 



Var. SEMPERFLORENS, Carriere (C. Bruanti, Hort.} Blossoms continuously 

 or at intervals from the ordinary time until August. It has tiny leaves | to I 

 in. long, and slender branches, and is of shrubby habit and very slow-growing. 

 A remarkably distinct dwarf variety. 



Var. SESTERIANA. Flowers double red. 



Var. STRICTA, Loddiges (C. fastigiata). Branches erect ; a curious and 

 striking form with a fastigiate habit. 



Var VARIEGATA. Leaves blotched with white. 



C. NIGRA, Waldstein. HUNGARIAN THORN. 



A tree 20 ft. high, forming a rounded head of rather stiff branches ; young 

 shoots felted with a grey down, becoming smoother and purplish ; thorns 

 about 4 in. long, often almost absent. Leaves triangular to ovate, wedge- 

 shaped^to almost straight across at the base ; \\ to 4 ins. long, usually two- 

 thirds to quite as wide ; seven- to eleven-lobed, the lower lobes reaching not 

 more than half-way to the midrib, the upper ones shallower ; sharply toothed, 

 dull green, both surfaces downy ; stalk rarely more than f in. long, very 

 downy ; stipules sharply and coarsely toothed. Flowers white, turning rosy 

 with age, f in. across, produced during May in rather small corymbs. Calyx 

 and flower-stalks grey-hairy ; stamens twenty ; styles five. Fruit flattened, 

 globose, up to \ in. diameter, shining black and soft. 



Native of Hungary; introduced in 1819. Very distinct in its dense grey 

 covering from other thorns, it is not, however, one of the most attractive. The 

 inflorescences are too small and the foliage too far advanced at flowering time 

 to make a good display. 



C. OLIVERIANA, Bosc. 



(C. Oxyacantha var. Oliveriana, Lindley, Bot. Reg. t., 1933.) 



A shapely small tree with the habit of the common hawthorn, but not so 

 tall ; young shoots grey, downy. Leaves I to 2 ins. long, often as wide ; 

 three- or five-lobed, the basal lobes deep ; grey with down on both sides, 

 especially beneath, remaining downy until they fall, even on the upper side ; 

 stalks \ to i ins. long. Flowers white, f in. across, in compact corymbs about 

 2 ins. across. Calyx and flower-stalk very woolly. Fruits about J in. long, 

 egg-shaped, black-purple, at first hairy, abundant. 



Native of S.E. Europe. This rather striking thorn has by some authors 

 been placed under C. pentagyna, to which it is, no doubt, closely allied. But, 

 as represented at -Kew, it differs plainly from it in the small fruits, in the 

 deeper, more finely toothed lobes of the leaf, in the abundant and more 

 persistent down, and in the entire or less deeply toothed stipules. It is, I 

 think, undoubtedly the thorn mentioned by Loudon under the synonym given 

 above and figured by Lindley in the Bot. Reg., t. 1933. 



