234 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



On the cliffs at the Great Ormes Head, Carnarvonshire. 



England. Perennial. Shrub. 



A small much-branched shrub, without spines ; young branche 

 •woolly. Leaves shortly stalked, f to 2 inches long, though rarely 

 exceeding 1 inch in the British specimens I have seen, rounded at 

 the apex, except on the young shoots, where they are sub-acute. 

 Stipules lanceolate, scarious, red, woolly at the edges. Flowers 

 solitary or in pairs, in the axils of the leaves from the wood of the 

 preceding year. Peduncles a little longer than the calyx, at first 

 erect, then curved. Bracts minute, reddish, woolly at the margins, 

 riowers i inch across, pink. Calyx turbinate, with short rounded 

 teeth, which have a woolly fringe. Petals suborbicular-ovate, not 

 much exceeding the calyx-teeth. Styles usually 3. Pruit | inch 

 across, blood-red, sub-globular, shining. Leaves somewhat leathery, 

 deep-green above, whitish beneath. 



Common Cotoneaster. 



French, Cotonnier Commun. German, Gemeine Zwergmispel. 



This shrub has been called the dwarf quince-leaved Medlar. The roots run very 

 deep into the earth, and it was recommended by Linnaeus for making low hedges in 

 dry broken ground ; but Hooker states that it is liable to be browsed by sheep. 



GENUS XIV.— M. E S P I L U S. Lindley. 



Calyx-tube bell-shaped, adhering to the ovary; limb superior, 

 "with 5 lanceolate somewhat foliaceous segments. Petals 5, inserted 

 in the throat of the calyx, sub-orbicular, spreading. Stamens 

 numerous, inserted in the throat of the calyx, and shorter than its 

 segments. Ovary inferior, 5-celled, each cell containing 2 erect 

 collateral ovules. Styles 5, distinct and glabrous. Fruit roundish- 

 turbinate, crowned by the calyx-segments which retain their form, 

 open at the apex, where there is a depressed shallow cavity as wide 

 as any part of the fruit and marked with 5 radiating depressed 

 lines indicating the partitions between the carpels, fleshy, containing 

 6 bony stones or pyrenes immersed in the pulp and each containing 

 a single seed. 



Small trees, generally spinous when wild, but becoming un- 

 armed by cultivation, with simple lanceolate serrulate leaves, and 

 large sub-solitary and sub-sessile white flowers, remarkable from 

 the very long foliaceous calyx-segments, which exceed the petals. 

 Bracts persistent. 



