174 A SELECTION OF THE BEST TREES 



first sprung from their tiny stone many generations agd. 

 During the flowering season the whole park (about 1760 

 acres in extent) is perfumed with them, and nothing can 

 be more agreeable than a stroll there of a May afternoon. 



Of course the Phoenix Park is practically in the country, 

 but the group near the museum in the Botanic Gardens in 

 the Regent's Park proves that the hawthorn family will 

 succeed perfectly on what is by far the worst kind of soil, 

 and the worst enemy with which the London gardener has 

 to contend — the deep bed of clay on the north side cjf 

 the city. Generally people regard the Hawthorn as a thing 

 apart from all others, and know little of the varied beauty 

 of the family ; but the fact is, it furnishes a greater number 

 of hardy ornamental dwarf trees than any other known to 

 us. They are not only pretty and fragrant in flower, but 

 the aspect of the fruit in autumn — borne in showers of 

 bright red, yellow, black, and scarlet — is of itself a recom- 

 mendation which should entitle them to general cultivation, 

 even if the bloom and fragrance were of that obscure type 

 which never attracts the attention of any but a botanist — 

 a type too common among our popular trees and shrubs. 



Of the common Hawthorn alone, the double and pink 

 and other varieties are capable of a rich display of beauty in 

 spring ; and the fruit, too, varies in a remarkable manner. 

 Varieties are grown with black fruit (Crataegus Oliveriana), 

 yellow fruit (C. aurea), woolly fruit (C. eriocarpa), and white 

 fruit (C. leucocarpa). C. prascox, the early flowering, is the 

 Glastonbury thorn; C. punicea flore pleno, the double 

 scarlet-flowered ; and there are many other varieties of the 

 common haw. In fact, the plant would serve as well as 

 many to illustrate the variation of which a species is capable, 

 if such were wanted by a Darwinian. 



If a single species displays so much ornament and 

 diversity, how much more may we expect from its numerous 

 congeners, all of which are hardy ? To have a full idea of 

 their value it is necessary to visit places where a collection 

 is grown not only in the early summer-flowering season, but 

 also in the autumn. The brilliancy and profusion of the 

 fruit — some of them many times larger than the common 



