THE HAWTHORN — continued. 
The stalked leaves, wedge-shaped at the base, vary considerably in outline and 
margin, and even more in their autumn colouring when the tree puts on what the 
poet Sackville aptly called “ his motley lyverye.” 
When, in the month of May, from which the tree takes another of its many 
popular names, the young green leaves are hidden beneath the masses of blossom, 
resembling white roses in miniature, it will be acknowledged to have well earned 
William Howitt’s description of it as “Glory of England’s landscape.” The delicate 
pink anthers become brown as they burst and discharge their pollen ; and the air 
is laden with' fragrance that tells of honey. Even in winter, when the tangle of 
darkened boughs appear as a black blot on the landscape, the deep red mealy fruits, 
mellowed by frost, furnish acceptable food for birds. 
Besides the many species and varieties grown in our parks and gardens, there 
are several wild varieties of the Hawthorn. The commonest of these is Cratagus 
Oxyacantha^ var. monogyna Jacquin, with downy flower-stalks and calyx, and only a 
single carpel, as is shown by its withered style in the centre of the remains of the 
calyx which surmount the fruit. Another variety, var. oxyacanthoides Thuillier, 
flowering a fortnight earlier, has rather leathery and glossy leaves, smooth flower- 
stalks and calyx, rather fewer but larger flowers, and two or three styles. Still 
less common forms have yellow or white fruits. 
The Gla'^tonbury Thorn, reputed to have sprung from the staff of St. Joseph of 
Arimathaea, planted on Wearyall Hill at Glastonbury, which blossoms and fruits 
at the usual season and also, as Tennyson says, “ blossoms at Christmas, mindful of 
our Lord,” is known to botanists as the variety prcecox. A similar habit occurs in 
some other plants. 
By the ancient Greeks the Hawthorn was regarded as the emblem of hope : it 
was carried in their wedding processions and used to deck the altar of Hymen. Its 
symbolism has, however, undergone a complete change, probably from the mediaeval 
legend that it furnished the Crown of Thorns. 
In Germany it still bears the name Christdorn : in France there is a tradition 
that it utters groans and cries on Good Friday ; whilst in England there is an old 
superstition that it is unlucky to uproot a tree of this species, and the still lingering 
belief that it is ill-omened to bring boughs of it into the house. 
Though seldom obtainable in any considerable quantity or of sufficient size, 
the wood of the Hawthorn was found, in the days of wood-engraving, to be the 
best substitute for Box. One would, however, it is to be hoped, think twice 
before sacrificing an old thorn — a beauty spot not readily to be replaced — to such 
base uses. 
