ICOSANDRIA PENTAGYNIA. 109 



2. P. Cerasus, flowers white, in nearly sessile umbels ; leaves 

 ovate-lanceolate, folded flat in the bud, somewhat downy beneath. 

 Wild Cherry. 



Hab. Hedges. Near Flemington. May. ?j 



3. P. spinosa, flower-stalks solitary ; leaves lanceolate, smooth ; 

 branches thorny at the end. Sloe. 



Hal. Hedges and deans. April. J-j 



The flowers appear earlier than the leaves, and are evolved 

 in such profusion, that it would seem 



" As if a flaky shower the leafless sprays 

 Had hung." 



The leaves are reckoned among the adulterations of tea 

 in England ; and the inspissated juice of the fruit serves 

 to adulterate, or to make fictitious port-wine. 



II. PENTAGYNIA. 



148. MESPILUS. 



1. M. Oxyacantha* thorny ; leaves obtuse, variously 3-lobed, 

 serrated, smooth ; styles about 2. Hawthorn. 

 Hab. Woods. June. }j 



" Few of our native plants can present a more beautiful 

 sight than a well-grown bush of Hawthorn, with its dense 

 masses of white flowers backed by the shining dark-green 

 leaves. Nor is it less desirable on account of its scent ; 

 though there are many individual plants perfectly desti- 

 tute of it. It is excellent for fences, and bears clipping 

 admirably. The fruit affords a supply of food to innu- 

 merable birds in a season when scarcely any thing else is 

 to be obtained." HOOKER When old, it is much infest- 

 ed with the grey lichen, a state in which it is very poeti- 

 cally described by BURNS : 



" The hawthorn I will pu', wV its locks o* siller grey, 

 Where, like an aged man, it stands at break o* day, 

 But the songster's nest within the bush I winna tak away; 

 And a' to be a posie to my ain dear May." 



