826 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART 111. 



although bright red, does not make much show upon the branches. The 

 sides of the stones of the fruit are unusually thin for a Crataegus. (But. 

 Reg., t. 184-6.) Dr. Lindley adds that Elliott confounds this species with 

 the C. spathulata of Michaux and Pursh; which, as described by these 

 authors, he thinks must be a different species, in the way of C. parvifolia, 

 and allied to the C. virginiana of the English nurseries. We can only re- 

 peat the hope we have so often expressed, that, ere long, all the species 

 of Crataegus will be brought together in one garden, so as to be studied, by 

 botanists, in a living state. C. spathulata is a beautiful little species, which 

 well deserves a place in every collection ; and, being of slow growth, it is 

 particularly eligible for suburban gardens. 



§ x. Azaroli. 



Sect. Char. Fruit large, round or pear-shaped ; good to eat ; yellow or red ; 

 the yellow fruit generally produced on fastigiate species or varieties ; and 

 the red on trees with a spreading and rather a drooping head. Leaves 

 wedge-shaped, 3-cleft or more, shining, pubescent or hairy. Spines few 

 or none. 



¥ 18. C. Azaro^lus L. The Azarole Thorn. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 683. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 629. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 600. 



Synonyuics. Pyrus Azarolus Scop. Cam., No. 597., J. Bauh. Hist., 1. p. 67. ; 3/£spilus Azarblus 



All. Fed., N. Du Ham, 4. p. 158.; Neflier Azarole, N£flier de Naples, E'pine d'Espagne, Pom- 



mettes a deux Closes, Fr. ; Azarol Mispel, Ger. 

 Engravings N. Du Ham., 4. t. 42. ; Bot. Rep., t. 579. ; fig. 592. in p. 862. ; and the plate in our 



Second Volume. 



Spec. Char., $c. Leaves pubescent, wedge-shaped at the base, trifid ; lobes 

 blunt, and with a few large teeth. Branchlets, corymbs, and calyxes 

 pubescent. Sepals obtuse. Styles 1 — 3. Fruit globose, scarlet. Seeds 

 usually two ; and hence the name, common at Montpelier, pommettes a 

 deux closes. (Dec. Prod., ii. p. 629.) Native in small woods, and in rough 

 places, in the south of France and in Italy. This species is decidedly a 

 tree ; never being found, in a wild state, with numerous distinct stems 

 rising from the same root, like the common hawthorn ; but always with a 

 trunk more or less clothed with branches, to within 3 ft. or 4 ft. of the 

 ground. The head is round and spreading; the branches rambling; the 

 small shoots thick, and covered with a dark-coloured bark, frequently 

 spiny when the plant is young, but spineless as it grows old. The flowers 

 are produced in corymbs towards the extremities of the shoots : they are 

 middle-sized ; and are succeeded by fruit, round, and somewhat oval ; 

 varying exceedingly in dimensions, in plants* raised from seeds, and also 

 in colour, but most generally yellowish red. The fruit, when ripe, is mealy, 

 and somewhat acid ; and, in Italy and the Levant, it is occasionally sent 

 to table. The tree, like almost every other of the species of Crataegus, 

 is of great durability. Du Hamel mentions a plant, living in his time, in 

 the Jardin du Val, that was sent to Louis XIV. from Spain ; from which 

 circumstance it was afterwards called, in France, Spine d' Espagne. It was 

 cultivated in England, by Tradescant, in 1656; and is recommended by 

 Parkinson, London and Wise, and other old writers on gardening, to be 

 cultivated for its fruit. Notwithstanding this circumstance, old trees are 

 rarely to be met with in British Gardens ; and the oldest plant that we 

 know of, in the neighbourhood of London, is in the Fulham Nursery; 

 where, however, it is not above 20 ft. high, but fruits abundantly every 

 other year. 



Varieties. In the Nouveau Du Hamel, six varieties are enumerated, viz.: 1. 

 MeapihlS Aronia, with the leaves hairy beneath; 2. Azarole, with large deep 

 red fruit ; 3. Azarole, with yellowish white fruit ; 4. Azarole, with long fruit, 

 of a whitish yellow; 5. Azarole, with double flowers ; and, 6. the White 

 Azarole of Italy. With the exception of the first-mentioned, none of 

 these varieties, as fiir as we know, are in British gardens. 



