TREES GRUWING IN MOIST SUIL. 



119 



thin and not evergreen. The tree is rather tall and slender 

 and occasionally reaches a height of forty feet. Again it 

 occurs as a shrub. In May we shall find it in bloom. By 

 many it is well known and sought for in the damp woods of 

 the Catskill Mountains. It extends southward along the 

 mountains to Pennsylvania and to Alabama. 



THREE-FLOWERED THORN. {Plate L V.) 

 Crat^gus trifibni. 



FAMILY SHAPE HEIGHT 



Apple, Spreading /rem base. \2-2o/ctt. 



RANGE 

 Georgia a/iii Alabama, 



TIME OF BLOOM 

 April. 



Bark of branches : light greenish grey and close, becoming scaly. Spines: 

 dark rrd; branched; numerous on tlie main stem. LeiiTfs : simple; alternate; 

 growing at the ends of the twigs; ovale ; pointed at the apex and rounded at 

 the base or tapering into a maryin which extends along each side of the short 

 petiole ; irregularly or doubly serrate ; bright dark green above and pubescent 

 when young, hiter becoming rough; i)a!er IjcIow and jjubescent. Flmveis : 

 large ; growing in corymbs of mostly three flowers on pubescent petioles, the 

 lateral ones, tiie longest. Calyx: with five lanceolate fringed lobes. Corolla: 

 with five rosaceous white petals. Stamens: numerous. Fruit: globose; 

 brilliant orange or red. 



Cratoegus triflora is a rare tree : one quite imbued with the 

 idea of seclusion. At the present time it is only known to 

 occur at two stations ; along the cliffs of the Coosa River in 

 Georgia and near Birminghain, Alabama. Mr. Beadle, of Bilt- 

 niore, who has made an exhaustive study of the genus, has seen 

 it in bloom at the former place where, he says, there are about 

 fifty of the trees ; and he describes the effect they en masse 

 produce, when they unfold amid the russet tints of early 

 spring, as very lovely. " Individually," he says, " the shrub is 

 rather poor." At the top its branches divide many times and 

 the leaves appear to be thrust at the ends of the twigs so as to 

 form a covering for their nakedness. The particular charm of 

 its flowers is that they are large, and the two side ones seem 

 to have been quaintly prolonged so as to give a sort of pro- 

 tection to the one. in the middle. From the coloured plate 

 this feature and the brilliancy of the fruit can be seen. 



It was through the aid of a glance into the note book of Mr. 



