White and Greenish 



Common Hawthorn; White Thorn; Scarlet- 

 fruited Thorn; Red Haw; Mayflowers 



{Crataegus coccinea) Apple family 



Flowers — White, rarely pinkish, usually less than i in. across, 

 numerous, in terminal corymbs. Calyx 5-lobed ; 5 spread- 

 ing petals inserted in its throat ; numerous stamens ; styles 

 3 to 5. Stem : A shrub or small tree, rarely attaining 30 ft. 

 in height (Krafos — strength, in reference to hardness and 

 toughness of the wood) ; branches spreading, and beset with 

 stout spines (thorns) nearly 2 in. long. Leaves : Alternate, 

 petioled, 2 to 3 in. long, ovate, very sharply cut or lobed, 

 the teeth glandular-tipped. Fnii't : Coral red, round or 

 oval ; not edible. 



Preferred Habitat — Thickets, fence-rows, woodland borders. 



Flowering Season — May. 



Distribution — Newfoundland and Manitoba southward to the 

 Gulf of Mexico. 



" The fair maid who, the first of May, 

 Goes to the fields at break of day 

 And washes in dew from the hawthorn tree 

 Will ever after handsome be." 



Here is a popular recipe omitted from that volume of heart- 

 to-heart talks entitled "How to Be Pretty though Plain"! 



The sombre-thoughted Scotchman, looking for trouble, 

 tersely observes : 



" Mony haws, 

 Mony snaws." 



But in delicious, blossoming May, when the joy of living fairly 

 intoxicates one, and every bird's throat is swelling with happy 

 music, who but a Calvinist would croak dismal prophecies.^ In 

 Ireland, old crones tell marvellous tales about the hawthorns, 

 and the banshees which have a predilection for them. So much 

 for folk-lore. 



As one might suspect from the rather disagreeable odor of 

 these blossoms, they are most attractive to flies and beetles, 

 which, carrying pollen from older flowers, leave some on the 

 stigmas that are already mature in newly-opened ones. A con- 

 cave nectar-secreting disk, not concealed by the filaments in this 

 case, is eagerly pilfered by numerous little short-lipped insects 

 which render no benefit in return ; but many others assist in 

 self-pollination after the anthers ripen. The splendid monarch 

 butterfly {Auosia plexippus), the banded purple {Basilarchia 

 arthemis), whose caterpillar feeds on hawthorn foliage, and the 



207 



