688 CRATAEGUS. [CLASS xji. order ii. 



filaments, and obloug anthers, of tvf o cells. Styles five, downy at the 

 base, and encompassed with an elevated disk. Stigmas club-shaped. 

 Fruit depressed and open at the top, exposing the ends of the five 

 carpels. 



Habitat. — Hedges in Cheshire and Sussex, Surrey, and Jersey; 

 naturalized. 



Tree ; flowering in May. 



The Medlar, in a wild uncultivated state, has its barren branches 

 terminated in a sharp spine ; but by cultivation these barren branches 

 are developed into fruitful ones, and the spines consequently dis- 

 appear. The fruit in a fresh state is austere and uneatable, but by 

 keeping, or when frosted, the fleshy part becomes mellowed and soft, 

 and in that state is by some persons highly esteemed. It is not, how- 

 ever, much cultivated in England ; but on the Continent, in the months 

 of November and December, it is one of the most abundant fruits in the 

 market. 



GENUS IV. CRAT^'GL'S.— Linn. Hawthorn. 



Nat. Ord, Rosa'ce^. Juss. 



Gen. Char. Calyx five cleft, with acute segments. Petals five. 

 Styles one to five. Fruit oval or round, the apex closed over the 

 ends of the cells. — Name from x^aTo?, strength; in allusion to the 

 strength of the wood and toughness of the branches. 



1. C. Oxycan'tha, Linn. (Fig. 785.) Hawthorn, Whitethorn, or 

 May. Leaves obovate, three or five lobed ; the segments cut, 

 serrated, or entire, smooth, shining ; flowers in corymbs ; styles one to 

 three ; calyx smooth, with acute segments. 



Hooker, British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 196. -Lindley, Synopsis, p. 

 104. — Mes-pilus Oxycantha, Gar/w.— English Botany, t. 2504.— English 

 Flora, vol. ii. p. 359. 



/3. eriocarpa, Lind. Leaves oblong, three or five cleft, slightly 

 serrated ; tube of the calyx densely hoary. 



Lindley, Synopsis, p. 104. 



Shrub, or small tree, with very hard close grained wood, and smooth 

 blackish brown bark, much branched, and with lateral sharp awl- 

 shaped spines. Leaves numerous, alternate, or tufts from lateral buds, 

 on longish slender footstalks, three or five lobed, the lobes cut or 

 serrated, smooth, and more or less shining above, pale and veiny 

 beneath, with a mid-rib and numerous lateral much divided and reti- 

 culated veins, the base of the leaf rounded or wedge-shaped. Tnfio- 

 rescence lateral and terminal corvmbs, of numerous flowers, on round 

 s\eni\er pedicles, smooth or downy. Calyx with a conical tube and five 

 cleft limb, of acute segments. Petals while, roundish, with a short 



