ICOSANDRIA PENTAGYNIA. Mespilus. 135 



Branches variously spreading, round, stiff, bark reddish, rather 

 glaucous. Ls. alternate, stalked. Fl. single, or in pairs, stalks 

 shortish. Pet. white, inversely egg-shaped, large. Fruit glo- 

 bular, black, bloom coloured blue, fruit sour, austere. 

 Bark of the root and branches styptic. Infusion of the fl., mixed 



with sugar mildly purgative. 



Far. The more grateful white-fruited bullace.) 



P. spinosa. Sloe, or Black-thorn, Flower-stalks mostly 

 solitary. Leaves spear-shaped, smooth. Branches 

 thorny at the end. E. B. 842. P. sylvestris. G, E. 



1497. 



Hedges, thickets. 



Shrub. March. 



Low, thorny, stiif, hark black, rather glaucous. Ls. stalked, early 



Is., inversely egg-shaped. Ls. saw-toothed, dark-green. Fl. 



white. Cal. spreading. Pet. roundish. Fruit globular, black, 



very austere, and astringent. Fl. appear earlier than the Is., in 



great profusion, like a " flaky shower." 



Fl. one of the harbingers of spring, appearing before the Is. In- 

 spissated juice of the fruit, an astringent. Recent fruit to adulte- 

 rate port wine. Dried Is. a substitute for tea. Green parts of 

 plum and cherry tribe poisonous, fruit not so. Shrub for hedges, 

 but too creeping. Wood hard for teeth of rakes. An infusion of 

 a handful of the fl., purgative. Powdered bark in ague : dose, two 

 drachms. Juice of the fruit, a marking ink upon linen, or woollen. 

 The juice of wild plums, combined with muriatic, or sulphuric acid 

 dyes rose-colour. 



ICOSANDRIA PENTAGYNIA. 



ME'SPILUS. Hawthorn, and Medlar. 



M. Oxyacantha. Hawthorn, Whitethorn, or May. 

 Thorny. Leaves blunt, variously three-lobed, saw- 

 toothed, smooth. Styles about two. E. B. 2504^. 

 Crataegus monogyna. Sb. 156. Oxyacanthus. G. 



E. 1327. 



Thickets, copses, hedges. 



Shrub, or small tree. May. 



Ls. alternate, stalked, deciduous, dark, shining green, segments 



deep, three or five. Fl. corymbose, terminal, white, large. 



Cal. bent back. Pet. concave, sometimes red. Anth. pink, 



changing to black. Fruit red, sometimes yellow, mealy. 



A beautiful, hardy shrub ; a substitute for the myrtle of warmer 

 climates. For fences ; not creeping. Fruit food for birds, &c. 

 Wood hard, tough, Branches bear clipping, and close cutting. 



