FLOWERING CRABS. 



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variety with graceful drooping outline known 

 as baccata pendula. 



The Garland Crab {P . coronaria) . — The 

 wild Crab Apple of America, found as a shrub 

 or spreading tree up to 25 feet in height, grow- 

 ing in sunny glades and uplands from New 

 York, westward to Kansas and south to the 

 Missouri. Though now not often planted, it is 

 worth growing for its fragrant leaves, flowers, 



Mi 



and fruit, and useful for its late bloom. Its 

 leaves are unlike other kinds in their broadly 

 three-lobed outline, are late in coming, and 

 remain during a great part of the winter. The 

 pale pink or rosy blossoms hang in thick clus- 

 ters with a scent of violets, and are later than in 

 any other kind; the fruits (also late in coming) 

 are small and flattened, of yellow-green, borne 

 upon long slight stalks, and hollowed at both 

 ends like an orchard Apple. Under cultivation 

 they gain in size and flavour, and are then used 

 for ciderand preserves. The early settlersmade 

 use of the wild fruits after covering them with 

 earth, to sweeten. Several varieties are grown, 

 the best with large double flowers 2 inches 

 across, with folded inner petals of soft rose; 



they open late when the tree is in full leaf, and 

 last longer in beauty than any other kind. 



The Hawthorn Crab (P . cratagifolia) .— 

 A curious little tree with soft silvery leaves like 

 those of the White Beam Tree, and white 

 flowers upon red down-covered stalks. The 

 fruits are very small, and crimson and yellow, 

 or reddish-purple in colour. Found in the 

 woods about Florence, and more interesting 

 to the botanist than the gardener. 



The Flowering Crab (P '. Jioribunda) . — 

 One of the most beautiful of flowering trees, 

 slender and spreading in its growth, with long 

 shoots almost hidden in flower during May. 

 The buds are of glowing crimson fading to a 

 soft pink or white as the flowers open and ma- 

 ture, the same sprayshowing acharming blend 

 of colour. The fruits are red and yellow of the 

 size of a pea, and fall sooner than the small- 

 fruited Siberian Crabs. This kind never grows 

 much above 1 5 feet, is of graceful habit, bloom- 

 ing well while quite young ; a further merit is 

 its easy increase, cuttings put firmly into the 

 ground during autumn or early winter seldom 

 failing to root. Grown in pots it bears gentle 

 forcing, and its coral-red buds are often wel- 

 come for the greenhouse in early spring. Japan. 

 This tree has been supposed to belong to P. 

 baccata or P. spectabilis, but whether a true 

 species or only a variety so distinct a kind may 

 well stand on its own merits. Several forms 

 are grown, the best being atrosanguinea, with 

 flowers of dark crimson. Others are citrifolia 

 poiypetaia, a hybrid with white flowers and yel- 

 low fruits ; Jructo-Jiavo, with deep red flowers 

 and yellow fruit ; and Nikita, a Japanese cross, 

 with larger edible fruits of a pale straw-colour. 



Hall's Crab (P. M. Halliana) . — Another 

 handsome Japanese kind, growing as a bush 

 or small tree of 1 5 feet, with a broad open 

 crown of good outline and graceful propor- 

 tions. Its semi-double flowers appear early 

 upon long red stalks, and while fewer than in 

 Jioribunda their colour and long season make it 

 a very pretty shrub. The fruits are hardly larger 

 than a pea, ripening late, and of soft reddish- 

 brown like the bark, the young shoots, and the 

 leaf-stems. Japan. Some botanists class this as 

 a semi-double form of Jioribunda, and others as 

 an offshoot of baccata, but no doubt exists as to 

 its beauty for gardens, where it is fast becoming 

 better known. 



