146 



THE YOUNG NATUEALIST. 



covered with the snowy sheet of its 

 fully-expanded blossoms ; but it lacks 

 the inimitable fragrance of the haw- 

 thorn, which is the added charm 

 attached to the purity of its snowy 

 blossoms and renders it incomparable. 

 In old trees the trunks become fur- 

 rowed and fluted to an extraordinary 

 degree, often seeming as if they were 

 made up of several stems joined to- 

 gether. They also exhibit in a most 

 marked manner the phenomena of 

 torsion , i.e., a remarkable twining of 

 the wood, as if some one had seized 

 the upper portion of the stem and 

 twisted it forcibly round, leaving it 

 marked with spiral grooves. The 

 branches are also frequently contorted 

 and crooked : in one variety (contorta) 

 this zig-zag growth has developed into 

 a permanent monstrosity. Grown as 

 a single specimen tree, its head as- 

 sumes a dense umbrella shape from 

 the inextricably involved network of 

 branches ; whilst in some varieties the 

 branches have a drooping, weeping 

 tendency, and the whole plant acquires 

 a hay-cock or bee-hive appearance, 

 which, when laden with its odorous 

 blossoms, forms one of the most ex- 

 quisite ornaments of an English park. 



The hawthorn flowers are so lovely 

 that they will well repay close exami- 

 nation. They are produced in dense 

 clusters at the extremities of short, 

 leafy, lateral spurs. These spurs are 

 technically called "corymbs/' because 



the lower branches are lengthened out 

 so as to bring all the blossoms to the 

 same level. Each primary branch of 

 the infloresence usually bears three 

 flowers, and of these the central one 

 invariably expands first. The pedicels 

 and calyces are generally downy, but 

 sometimes quite glabrous. The five 

 narrow lobes of the calyx project at 

 first beyond the tiny, white, round 

 little knobs of the unexpanded flower- 

 buds, which just then look like clusters 

 of pearls in bird-claw settings. After 

 the corolla expands, the calyx limb 

 becomes reflexed and remains perma- 

 nently to crown the fruit. The snowy 

 petals are round, concave and contig- 

 uous, so that the corolla forms a shal- 

 low cup, within which are the numer- 

 ous stamens tipped by their rosy pink 

 anthers, surrounding the solitary style 

 with its curiously truncate tip as if it 

 had been abruptly cut off. It is an 

 interesting exercise for a young 

 botanist to pick open one of the unex- 

 panded flower-buds and see how cun- 

 ningly closely the whole of the floral 

 organs are packed up. In the charac- 

 teristic fruit the succulent portion is 

 formed by the enlarged and fleshy 

 calyx tube, within which is the hard, 

 bony, nut-like seed. It is well-known 

 how attractive these juicy, brilliant- 

 coloured fruits are to birds, to whom 

 they furnish an important food in 

 severe seasons, but in mild winters 

 like the last they hang untouched on 



