64 



The form of coccinea was first found at Persimmon Island, New 

 Rochelle, by Professor E. H. Day in 1876, and in 1893 on the 

 Harlem River near Fordham Heights Station by E. P. Bicknell. 

 Although both of these stations have been destroyed I was able 

 to find the plant ; in fact it proves to be the most common thorn 

 about the ledges of New York City and the Palisades of the Hud- 

 son. It seems to be the form described from Biltmore by Beadle 

 as Crataegus Boyntoni, and later from Rochester, N. Y., by 

 Professor Sargent as C. Baxteri. 



Knowing that a limestone country is the best locality for Cra- 

 taegus, for my general exploration I first went up the Harlem 

 Railroad into the Taconic Mountains region from Pawling to 

 Chatham, where I had seen plenty of thorns in 1904. 



The best time to see thorns is in flowering time and a railroad 

 train is an excellent place from which to locate a lot of them in 

 short order. On May 21, 1905, 1 rode as far north as Millerton, 

 about 90 miles from New York, noting the best thorn thickets on 

 the way. I walked back five miles to Coleman's Station, seeing 

 a few thorns on the way ; the wooded hillside southwest of the 

 station was a fine place for thorns, having several forms. My 

 next stop was Pawling ; here were two, coccijiea and pentandra, 

 not seen elsewhere. The next morning I stopped at Dykeman's 

 Station, Putnam Co. ; the pastures west of this station have many 

 individuals, including several forms. In the afternoon I visited 

 Bedford, Westchester Co., and walked two miles south and over 

 a rocky hill to the west of the railroad, on my way back. This 

 region is out of the limestone and I saw only the forms common 

 about New York, Biltiiioreana, Boyjitoni, and pruinosa. 



In order to cover a long range of territory I skipped from 

 Pawling to Sharon Station. If one could go to Dover Furnace, 

 using that as a base, he would find in a radius of five or six miles 

 the best Crataegus country south of Millerton. 



Another excellent way to find lots of thorns is to charter a 

 good guide ; this I did the next week going to Moore's Mills with 

 Dr. C. C. Curtis. 



The town of UnionviUe just east of Moore's Mills was the 

 region principally searched ; here we spent two days, including 



