FLOWERING SHRUBS 



Beneath thy flower-encircled wand 



No peasant trains advance ; 

 No more they lead with sportive tread 



The merry, merry dance. 



The Violet blooms with modest grace 



Beneath her crest of leaves, 

 The Primrose shows her paly face, 



Her wreaths the Woodbine weaves. 



The Cowslip bends her golden head, 



And Daisies deck the lea ; 

 But ah, no more in grove or bower 



The Queen of May we'll see. 



Weep, weep, then, virgin Queen of May, 



Thy ancient reign is o'er ; 

 Thy votaries now are lowly laid, 



And thou art Queen no more." 



The Pear Thorn is one of the finest of our native species, 

 often rising to the height of from fifteen to twenty feet, with 

 a stout rough-barked stem. When in flower it forms a fine 

 ornament to our open woods and thickets, for it is not found 

 in the depths of the forest; it haunts the open edges of 

 woods, and more especially is found along the banks of 

 rivers and creeks. The flowers are much larger, though less 

 delicate in scent, than the English Hawthorn. The leaves 

 are thick and tough, but smooth and shining, unequally 

 toothed, ovate-oblong; thorns, long, sharp and slender. The 

 white cup-shaped flowers with dark anthers grow in hand- 

 some corymbs, many-flowered on the summits of the sprays. 

 The fruit is large, round and of a bright scarlet or orange. 



SCARLET-FRUITED THORN Cratwgus coccinea (L.). 



is no less ornamental than the former, and also forms a fine 

 high flowering bush ; the fruit is of a pleasant acid taste and 

 of a fine bright scarlet ; the leaves are thin, partly lobed and 

 sharply cut at the rounded margin. This thorn grows tall 



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