178 



A DISCOURSE 



BOOK I. not so common in England as in France, bearing a sort of berry of the 

 "^^^^ pear-shape, and is there called the Cormier. This tree may be graffed 

 either on itself, or on the White-thorn and Quince. To this we might 

 add the JNIespilus or Medlar, being an hard wood, and of which 

 I have seen very beautiful walking-staves. But there is yet a 

 rare kind of Service-tree, frequent in Germany, which we find not 

 in our woods; and they speak of another sort, which bears poison- 

 berries. 



a tree or two only can be admitted. These beautiful double flowers come out in large 

 bunches, in May, and the tree is so good a bearer, that it often appears covered with them. 

 Their colour, at Iheir first appearance, is a delicate white : They afterwards die to a faint 

 red colour, and are frequently succeeded by small imperfect fruit. The Glastonbury Thorn 

 differs in no respect from the Common Hawthorn, only that it sometimes flowers in the winter. 

 It is said to have been originally the staff of Joseph of Arimathea. He, according to the 

 tradition of the abbey of Glastonbury, attended by twelve companions, came over into 

 Britain, and founded, in honour of the Blessed Virgin, the first Christian Church in this 

 island. As a proof of his mission, he is said to have stuck his staff into the ground, which 

 immediately shot forth and blossomed. By some credulous people this tree was long 

 thought to put forth its blossoms on Christmas-day ; but this sanctified deceit is now sunk 

 into discredit, even with the meanest of the vulgar. 



7. CRAT/EGUS C tomentosa ) foliis cuneiformi-ovatis serratis subangulatis subtus villosis, 

 ramis spinosis. Lin. Sp. PI. 682. Service with oval, wedge-shaped, smved, angular leaves, 

 hoary on their zmder-side, aiid prickly branches. Mespihis Virginiana, grossularia foliis. — 

 Pluk. Phyt. 100. f. The gooseberry-leaved Virginian thorn. 



This sort grows naturally in North America; it has a slender shrubby stalk, rising about six 

 or seven feet high, sending out many irregular branches, armed with long slender thorns, 

 and garnished with short oval, wedge-shaped leaves, which are sawed on their edges, and 

 are woolly on their under side; the flowers are small, proceeding from the side of the 

 branches, standing sometimes single, and at other times two or three upon tlie same foot- 

 stalk, having large leafy empalements, and are succeeded by small roundish fruit, with 

 a large leafy umbilicus, which before was the empalement of the flower: The flowers appear 

 the beginning of June, and the fruit ripens very late in the autumn. There is a variety of 

 this species called the Carolina Hawthorn, which has longer and whiter leaves, large flowers 

 and fruit, but without thorns. 



8. CRATjEGUS C viRiDis ) foliis lanceolato-ovatis subtrilobis serratis glabris, caule inermi. 

 Lin. Sp. PI. 683. The green-leaved Virginian thorn. 



The stem and branches of this sort are altogether destitute of thorns. The leaves are 

 lanceolate, oval, nearly trilobate, serrated, smooth, and green on both sides. The flowers 

 are white and moderately large ; they come out about the end of May, and are succeeded 

 by a roundish fruit which ripens late in autumn. It is a native of Virginia. 



