ICOSANDRIA— PENTAGYNIA. Mespilus. 359 



folia of Aiton, Pursh, &c., unites these two genera, to 

 say nothing of other species. Nobody can be mox'e 

 aware than I am of the difficulties my ingenious friend 

 just quoted has here had to encounter, or of the skill with 

 which he has met them, though we may differ in opinion 

 about some of his genera. 



i. M. Oxyacantha. Hawthorn, Whltethoin, or May. 



Thorny. Leaves obtuse, variously three-lobed, serrated, 

 smooth. Styles about two. 



M. Oxyacantha. Gcertn, v. 2.43. t. 87. FL Br. 529. Engl. Bot. 



ij.35. ^.2504. Hull.ed.2. ]4a. Relh. IDO. 

 M. n. 1087. Hall. Hist. V. 2.30. 

 M. apii folio sylvestris spinosa, sive Oxyacantha. Bank. Pin. 454. 



Raii Sjj71. 453. 

 Crataegus Oxyacantha. Linn. Sp. PI. 683. IFillcl. v. 2. 1005. 



Huds. 214. With. 459. Hook. Scot. 151. Fl. Dan. t. G34. 



Jacq. Austr. t. 292. f. 2. Ehrh. Arb. 34. 

 C. monogyna. Jacq. Austr. t. 292./. \. Sibth. lo6. Abbot 108. 



Purton 235. Ehrh. Arb. 44. 

 Oxyacanthus. Ger. Em. 1327./. 



Acuta spina. Matth. Valgr. v. 1. 148./. Camer. Epit. 85./. 

 Sorbus aculeata. Cord. Hist. 176./. 

 /3. Mespilus apii folio sylvestris spinosa, folio et fructu majore. 



DM. in Raii Si/n. 454. 

 y. Glastonbury Thorn. With. 459. 



In thickets, copses, hedges, and high open fields, every where. 



Shrub or small tree. Maij, June. 



The luood is very hard, with a smooth blackish bark. Branches w"Ith 

 lateral, sharp, awl-shaped thorns. Leaves alternate, deciduous, 

 on longish slender stalks, smooth, deep green, veiny, an inch or 

 two long ; tapering at the base ; more or less deeply 3-lobed, 

 or 5-lobed, cut and serrated, wedge-shaped or rounded. Sti- 

 pulas crescent-shaped, cut, deciduous, variable in size ; in y ac- 

 cording to Dr. Withering very large. FL corymbose, terminal, 

 on smooth stalks here and there glandular, sweet-scented, white, 

 occasionally pink or almost scarlet, Anth. pink, changing to 

 black. Styles 1 or 2 in different flowers of the same bunch, 

 sometimes 3. Fruit mealy, insipid, dark red, occasionally yel- 

 low ; its cells as many as the styles, furrowed externally and 

 very hard. The value of this plant for fences is well known. 

 It is raised abundantly from seed, and bears clipping to any ex- 

 tent. Birds are fed with the fruit all winter long. 



Jacquin's C. Oxtjacantha has rounder broader leaves than the more 

 tommon variety, his monogtjna, represented in Engl. Bot. But 

 repeated examination has satisfied me, and many other English 

 botanists, that flowers wilh a single style are equally frequent 



