ROSE FAMILY I 63 



16. Mespilus (Medlar). — A small spinous tree, with large 

 simple leaves ; solitary flowers; sepals 5, large, leafy, persistent; 

 fruit, a globose pome, with 5, 1 -seeded carpels forming a bony 

 core exposed at the top. (Name of Classical Greek origin.) 



1. M. germdnica (Medlar). — A small, much-branched, spin- 

 ous tree, with large, simple leaves, white flowers, \\ in. across, on 

 short stalks, and a remarkable globose fruit, with large, leafy, 

 persistent sepals and 5 bony 1 -seeded carpels exposed at the top. 



p^rus communis (Wild Pear). 



— Hedgerows; but probably not truly wild. Well known in a 

 cultivated state. — Fl. May, June. Perennial. 



17. Crataxjus (Hawthorn). — Shrubs or small trees, often spin- 

 ous ; leaves simple, lobed ; stipules deciduous ; flowers in terminal 

 corymbose cymes ; sepals 5 ; petals 5 ; stamens many ; carpels 

 1 — 5, enclosed in the calyx-tube, each 2-ovuled ; fruit a pome with 

 a bony core. (Name from the Greek kratos, strength, alluding 

 to the hardness of its wood, which is the best substitute for box- 

 wood for engraving purposes.) 

 m 2 



