ROSE FAMILY 



A stanza of an ancient song runs thus : — 



Their spells were vain ; the hags returned 

 To the queen in sorrowful mood, 

 Crying that witches have no power 

 Where there is roan-tree wood. 



Pyrits sambucifolia is a tree of more northern range than 

 P. americana. In general appearance it is not unlike it, but 

 both blossoms and fruit are larger. 



COCKSPUR THORN. NEWCASTLE THORN 



Cratirgits cnis-gdlli. 



Cratagus is of Greek derivation, referring to the strength of the 

 wood produced by the different species. Crus-galh refers to the 

 character of the thorns. The name of Newcastle Thorn had its 

 origin in the fact that this thorn was once largely used as a 

 hedge plant by the farmers of Newcastle County, Delaware. 



A small tree with stout, rigid, spreading branches and a broad flat 

 or round head. Branches usually armed with long slender spines. 

 Roots fibrous. Loves rich soil along the margins of swamps or near 

 streams ; succeeds as a hedge plant. 



i)(7r/{r. — Light reddish brown, or ashy gray, surface separated into 

 scales. Branchlets at first green but soon become light brown or 

 gray tinged with brown. In their second year they become armed 

 with spines and these continue to enlarge for many years, often be- 

 coming many branched and six or eight inches long. 



Wood. — Reddish brown ; heavy, hard, close-grained with a satiny 

 surface. Sp. gr. , 0.7194 ; weight of cu. ft., 44.83 lbs. 



JVinler Buds. — Chestnut brown, obtuse, one-eighth of an inch 

 long. Inner scales grow with the growing shoot and often become 

 one-half an inch long and bright red before they fall. 



Leaves. — Alternate, simple, obovate-cuneiform to broadly oval or 

 linear-oblong, one to three inches long, tapering from the middle 

 to the petiole, sharply serrate except toward the base, acute or 

 rounded at apex. Feather-veined ; midrib and primary veins nar- 

 row. They come out of the bud conduplicate, when full grown are 

 smooth, thick, dark green and shining above, paler beneath. In 

 autumn they turn orange and scarlet. Petioles short, broad. Stipules 

 vary in form from linear, acute to obliquely ovate, early deciduous. 



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