AMERICAN FOREST TREES 459 



contributes more or less to the food supply of the people within its range. 

 It is known also as May haw and apple haw. The flowers appear in 

 February and March, are about one inch in diameter, and flushed with 

 red toward the apex. The fruit ripens in May, is bright red, very frag- 

 rant, and is from half to three-fourths of an inch in diameter. The flesh 

 is of a pleasant taste, and is gathered in large quantities by country 

 people for making preserves and jelly. It is sold in town and city 

 markets, particularly in New Orleans. The range of this thorn tree is 

 from South Carolina and Florida, to Texas. It attains a height of 

 twenty or thirty feet, and a diameter sometimes as great as eighteen 

 inches. It reaches its largest size in Louisiana and Texas. It grows 

 well on land which may be submerged several weeks in winter. The 

 wood has not been reported for any use. 



COCKSPUR (Cratcegus crus-galli) may be taken as the type of more 

 than twenty species of cockspur thorns growing in this country. Its 

 other names are red haw, Newcastle thorn, thorn apple, thorn bush, 

 pin thorn, haw, and hawthorn. It grows southwestward from Canada 

 to Texas, and extends into Florida. The largest trees are twenty-five 

 feet high and a foot in diameter. The fruit is dull red, half inch in 

 diameter, ripens in September and October, and hangs on the branches 

 until late winter. Hogs eat the fruit when they can get it, and boys 

 utilize the small apples as bullets for elder pop guns. The thorns are 

 formidable slender spines from three to eight inches long, strong, and 

 extremely sharp. They were formerly used as pins to close wool sacks 

 in rural carding mills. The many species of cockspur thorns are multi- 

 plied by numerous varieties. Fence posts and fuel are cut from the 

 best trunks. 



PEAR HAW (Cratagus tomentosa) is a representative of at least ten 

 species. It is called pear haw without any very satisfactory reason, since 

 the fruit bears little resemblance to pears. It is half an inch in diameter, 

 dull orange red in color, and sweet to the taste, but it is of little value as 

 food. The tree has been occasionally planted for ornament, but never 

 for fruit. The flowers are showy. Trees at their best are fifteen or 

 twenty feet high and five or six inches in diameter. They have few 

 thorns and such as they have are small. The tree's range extends from 

 New York to Missouri, and along the Appalachian mountains to northern 

 Georgia, and west to Texas and Arkansas. It is known in different parts 

 of its range as black thorn, red haw, pear thorn, white thorn, common 

 thorn, hawthorn, thorn apple, and thorn plum. 



Hoc HAW (Cratcegus brachyacanthd) is distinguished by its blue 

 fruit. The name indicates that the fruit is unfit for human food but is 

 eaten by swine. In some parts of Louisiana the dense thickets produce 



