ORNAMENTAL FRUITED TREES AND SHRUBS 85 



doubtedly the most beautiful are the Hawthorns 

 (Crataegus) whose decorative value is not fully 

 realized. The number of species is very great and 

 some are low shrubs and others large trees; the fruit 

 varies greatly in size and in the length of time it re- 

 mains on the branches. In a group so large selection is 

 onerous but the six which follow, though equalled 

 by others, are not surpassed by any. The so-called 

 Washington . Thorn (C. cordata) is a slender tree, 

 from twenty to thirty-five feet tall, with a small and 

 shapely crown and clusters of small scarlet shining 

 fruits which ripen in October and remain on the tree 

 without much change in color until the spring. In C. 

 nitida, which is a large tree with spreading slightly 

 pendulous branches, the scarlet fruits are of medium 

 size in drooping clusters, ripening in October and re- 

 maining on the trees until winter is far advanced. A 

 remarkably handsome species is C. Amoldiana with 

 large bright crimson fruits ripening about the middle 

 of August and falling in September. This is a small 

 tree with ascending and spreading branches and slender 

 very zigzag branchlets which form a broad irregular 

 crown. Crataegus succulenta is a shrub or small tree 

 with a broad irregular head and drooping clusters of 

 moderately large, globose, bright scarlet fruits which 

 ripen about mid-September and remain on the 



