HAWTHORNS 



The hawthorns belong to the Rose tribe and owe their name Crataegus 

 (from the Greek, kratos, strength) to the density and strength of their wood. 

 The genus includes more than one hundred and fifty species, which have a 

 northern range in Europe, Asia and North America. 



Hawthorns are among the most showy of the smaller deciduous trees 

 due to their foliage, flowers and fruit. The deep glossy green foliage holds 

 its color until late in the fall when it turns to various brilliant autumn colors. 

 The flowers, which are white, pink and scarlet, are double and rose-like in 

 some species. The fruit is apple-like, yellow or red, and hangs late into the 

 fall. Most of the hawthorns are spiny. 



The hawthorn, which is also known as May, Whitethorn and Albespeine, 

 is deeply enshrined in the traditions of England where it has been a char- 

 acteristic tree from the earliest days. The Greeks regarded it as the emblem 

 of hope, and it was carried in their wedding processions, and used to deck the 

 altar of Hymen. Its symbolism underwent a change in mediaeval times, 

 however, owing to the belief that Christ was crowned with the branches of 

 this tree, a belief that is quaintly told by Sir John Mandeville : 



"Then was our Lord yled into a gardyn, and there the Jews scorned 

 hym, and maden hym a crown of the branches of the Albiespyne, that 

 is Whitethorn, that grew in the same gardyn, and setten yt upon hys 

 heved. And therefore hath the Whitethorn many virtues. For he 

 that beareth a branch on hym thereof, no thundre, ne no maner of tem- 

 pest, may dere hym, ne in the howse that yt is ynne may non evil ghost 

 enter." 



The Holy Crown was reverently preserved at Constantinople for a 

 time, but it was pledged to the Venetians as a bond for a large sum of money. 

 It was acquired by St. Louis of France in the thirteenth century, who built 

 the beautiful Sainte Chapelle for it at Paris. There is a legend that when the 

 Emperor Charlemagne knelt before the relic in the eighth century, it blossomed 

 afresh and the scent of hawthorn filled the air. 



The celebrated Glastonbury Thorn of England is supposed to have sprung 

 over night from the staff of St. Joseph of Arimathaea. It blossoms early in 

 the year, sometimes as early as Christmas day, supposedly in honor of the 

 Divine birth. 



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