ROSACEA. 



397 



may, indeed, be defined as Pears whose fruit is a drupe with stony 

 pntamina. Sometimes these are multiple, free, and one-celled ; some- 

 times, on the contrary, there is only a single stone, divided into as 

 many cells as there are seeds.' The number of these varies from 

 one to five, either because the gynseceum originall}^ consisted of 

 fewer than five carpels, or because, of five cells originally present, 

 one or more have had their development arrested with that of the 

 ovules they contained.- In other respects the flower of the Haw- 

 thorns is organized like that of the Pears. So is that of the Medlar,^ 

 (Fr., ]Ve/!ier), of which many authors have made a distinct genus, 

 but which possesses a fruit with five bony nuts, and only differs 

 from the other species of Croicegus in the large size of the eye,^ seen 

 on top of the fruit, surrounded by the persistent sepals.^ Thus con- 

 stituted, the genus Cratcegus includes about thirty species nearlv 

 all proper to the northern hemisphere, i.e., in Europe, Asia, and 

 North America," only one species inhabiting the Columbian Andes. 

 They are trees or shrubs,' with alternate petiolate leaves possessing 

 two caducous lateral stipules. The flowers are terminal, in the 



' The latter case would be the more frequent 

 according to Bentham and Hooker :" Drw^sa 

 .... putumine osseo 1—5-loculari (rarius 5- 

 pyrena, pyrenis osseis vix liheris)." We have 

 observed almost constantly, in specimens culti- 

 vated in gardens, that, on the contrary, there are 

 several one-celled stones to the fruit, and that 

 they adhere so slightly to each other that they 

 can always be separated without iiijur\^, 



^ Rarely do we find both the ovules of one cell 

 become fertile seeds. 



^ Mespilus T., Listit., 641, t. 410.— L., Gen., 

 n. 625 (ex part.). — Adans., Fain, des PI., ii. 

 296.— J., aen., 335.— Gjsetn., Fnict., ii. 43, 

 t. 87. — LiNDL., Trans. Linn. Soc, xiii. 99. — 

 DC, Prodr., ii. 633. — Spach, Suit, a Btiffon, 

 ii. 51 (ex part.), — Endl., Gen.,n, 6344. — Mespi- 

 lophora Nece., Elem., n. 724. 



■• This eye is only the opening of the recep- 

 tacle. The axial nature of this latter organ is 

 no longer contested, nor is it now admitted to 

 be the basilar part of the calyx welded with the 

 ovaries. In the common Medlar we have often 

 seen a bract, analogous to tlie sepals, inserted at 

 a variable height on the outside of this pouch. 

 The receptacle constantly bears at least a couple 

 of these bracts in C. tanacetifolla Pees, (see 

 BuANDZA, in Adansonia, v. ii. 006.) 



* The fruit of the Medlar is a turbinate drupe, 

 depressed at the top into a large broad cupuli- 

 form eye, on the edges of which persist the five 

 leafy sepals, separated by large triangular sur- 



faces, which correspond with the insertion of the 

 petals (Tunp., Diet. Sc. Nat, t. 243). The 

 stamens are also represented within the perianth 

 by a coronet of little blackish withered filaments. 

 In front of each sepal is a groove, which goes to 

 meet its fellows in the centre of the cupule, and 

 gives passage to the blackish apiculate filiform 

 remains of a withered style. The epicarp of the 

 drupe is membranous and nearly glabrous, but 

 with little rugose points scattered over its surface. 

 The mesocarp, at first rather hard and acrid, 

 becomes sweet and pulpy when bletted, and forms 

 pretty thick septa between the five oppositipe- 

 talous stones. The walls of these are very tliick 

 and bony ; they contain an ascending seeti, like 

 that of the Hawthorn ; their internal angles are 

 traversed by a slight longitudinal furrow. 



« DC, Prudr.yu (;2(C633.— GitKX. & Godr., 

 Fl. de Fr., i. 567. — Boiss., Esp., t. 61. — Roxb., 

 Fl. Ltd., ii. 509, 510. — Koch, Ann. Mus. 

 Imgd. Pat., i. 249. — MiQ., Ann. Mm. Lii/jd. 

 Pat., iii. 40. — H. B. K., Nov. Gen. el Spec, vi. 

 168, t. 555. — Tore. & Or., Fl. N. Amer., i. 

 463.— A. Gray, Man. of Pot., ed. v., 160.— 

 CiiAPM., Fl. S. T'nit.-Slates, 12G.— Pot. Pe</., 

 t. 1852, 18(!0, 1877, 1884, ISSo.—Pof. Ma,/., 

 t. 3432.— Walp., Rep., ii. 57, 915 ; v. 661 ; 

 Ann., i. 288, 292 ; ii. 523 ; iii. 858. 



' Their branches, especially those in the axils 

 of last year's leaves, are often transformed into 

 simple hi- or trifnrcate spines. 



