THE HAWTHORN. 477 
‘The Hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade, 
For talking age and whispering lovers made;’ 
and it will be admitted that there are few indeed 
amongst our flowering Trees or shrubs that, by 
the precious gift of perfume, have given so much 
enjoyment to mankind as this delightful Tree—for 
Tree it is, though mostly seen—in association with 
the tangled masses of our hedge-banks—as a 
modest shrub. 
So familiar is the Hawthorn that we need not 
linger on details of description, but may pass on to 
notice some facts of interest which may not have 
come within the knowledge of all who know the leaf 
and blossom of Crategus ovyacantha in its normal 
form. 
First, then, as to size, though ordinarily, as we 
have said, found in shrub-form, it makes a Tree 
sometimes reaching a height of fifty feet, with a 
girth of trunk of nine feet. As a Tree, the 
twisting and contortion of its stem give to it a 
characteristic and picturesque appearance. It will 
live, too, sometimes to an age exceeding two or 
three centuries. 
The normal form of the leaf of the present 
