S58 



1C0SANDR[A FEl^TAGYNIA. 



251. MESPILUS. Hawthorn and Medlar. 



Linn. Gen. 251. Juss.335. Fl. Br. 529. Tourn.t. 410. Lam. 



t. 436. Gcertn. t. 87. LincU. Tr. of L. Soc. v. 13. 99. 

 Crataegus. Linn. Gen. 250. Juss. 335. Lam. t. 433. Lindl. 



ibid. 105. 



Nat. Ord. see n. 250. 



Cal. superior, of 1 leaf, concave, in 5 deep permanent seg- 

 ments. Pet. 5, nearly orbicular, concave, wavy, with 

 short broadish claws proceeding from the rim of the 

 calyx. Filam. 20, awl-shaped, incurved, from the rim of 

 the calyx within the petals. Anth. roundish, of 2 lobes. 

 Germ, inferior, turbinate or roundish. Styles from 2 to 5, 

 rarely solitary, thread-shaped, erect. Stigm. capitate, pel- 

 tate. Apple globose, or somewhat depressed, concave at the 

 summit, crowned with the either converging or reflexed 

 calyx, of from 2 to 5 bony cells, or capsules, each of one 

 valve, and not bursting except in germination. Seeds 2 

 in each cell, erect, obovate, obtuse, pointed at the base, 

 where they are attached. 



Trees^ generally thorny, with simple, often lobed, deciduous, 

 alternate, stalked leaves. Stipulas various. Fl. solitary or 

 corymbose, white, often fragrant. Bracteas deciduous. 

 F7^ut pulpy or mealy. 



I readily concur with Mr. Lindley, in his valuable paper on 

 the natural order of PomacecE, Tr. of L. Soc. v. 1 3. 88 — 

 106, in denominating this fruit Sipomum, or apple ; rather 

 than a bacca, berry, with Linnaeus and Gaertner. I wish 

 moreover to restrict the term driipa to a fleshy fruit with a 

 solitary nut. See Grammar 23. The genus Pi/nis, as I 

 understand it, exhibits a gradation of membranous and 

 cartilaginous cells in the apple, some of them close, some 

 valvular ; and in Mespilus the same part is similarly con- 

 structed, though of a harder substance. Each seed, in 

 both, has a double skui. It is perhaps to be wished that 

 Crataegus could be kept separate from Mespilus, but I 

 cannot perceive the fruit to be more open, or the cells 

 more exposed, in one than the other. With respect to 

 habit, inflorescence, and the leafy calyx, Cratcegus parvi- 



