PARK AND CEMETERY 
242 
American Thorns. 
The tendency in late years among ornamental plant- 
ers in this country has been strongly in the direction 
of planting more native material than was the prac- 
tice a good many years ago. xA.nd this is as it should 
be. 
Among American trees and shrubs, few hold a 
more ornamental place than the so-called Thorn ap- 
ples. The different species of American Crataegus 
present at all times of the year a bold, picturesque 
habit, which is more or less peculiar to all of the dif- 
ferent species. And this is particularly noticeable in 
the winter season, when some individuals, perhaps one 
hundred years old or more, stand with their rugged 
outlines and horizontal, angular, erect or drooping 
branches, as the case may be, 
and impress upon the land- 
scape a strong individuality 
and arrest the attention of 
plant lovers in a most captivat- 
ing manner. 
We will mention a few in 
these notes which we deem 
worthy of the attention of or- 
namental planters, and a few 
of the new species which have 
recently been described and 
named by Dr. Sargent. 
Dr. Sargent, who knows 
more about the genus Cratae- 
gues than any other living 
man, has named and described 
an immense number of hith- 
erto unknoAvn and unde- 
scribed species on the Amer- 
ican continent, and it looks 
at present as if perhaps 
two hundred distinct spe- 
cies of Crataegus may be credited to this side of 
the Atlantic Ocean. This is undoubtedly one of the 
most important contributions to ornamental horticul- 
ture and botanical science of recent years. 
The dotted fruited thorn, Crataegus punctata, a 
form easily recognized anywhere, and quite abundant 
throughout all the Appalachian regions, and common 
in Western New York, and in the Genesee Valley, at- 
tains large tree like proportions, occasionally thirty- 
five to forty feet in height, and is always noticeable 
for its flat spreading branches and flat top. The spines 
and branches have a distinctively whitish gray ap- 
pearance in winter. It blossoms about the last days of 
May or the first days of June. When the branches 
are covered with the numerous corymbose clusters of 
twenty stamened red or white anthered flowers, it is 
particularly handsome. The accompanying picture is 
a good illustration of a type plant. The leaves of 
the dotted fruited thorn are quite variable, but the 
typical leaves are wedge shaped or obovate and quite 
downy in the early part of the season. The large 
handsome red fruit ripens in October and is thickly 
set with numerous dark dots. Varieties of the type 
with yellow fruit are common. 
Perhaps no American thorn is better known than 
the Cockspur or Newcastle Thorn, Crataegus Crus- 
Galli. It has long l)een in cultivation and it has 
been hybridized to some extent with other thorns and 
quite a number of forms of it are in cultivation. It 
has perhaps a wider range of native distribution than 
any other American thorn, being found ranging from 
the St. Lawrence to the Colorado, in Texas. 
CRAT,€GUS PUNCTATA. 
The deep green glossy wedge-shaped leaves render 
the Cockspur Thorn highly ornamental throughout the 
entire season. The branches, when they have unre- 
stricted freedom, are gracefully wide-spreading, and 
always sweep the ground. It blossoms in Western 
New York' from June loth to 15th, and numerous 
convex clusters of rose anthered blossoms are very 
showy. The handsome red fruit ripens in October. 
The so-called Pear Thom, Crataegus tomentosa, 
which is found quite plentifully in the vicinity of the 
great lakes, has not the ornamental features of the two 
former. As a general rule its habit is somewhat thin 
and straggling. Nevertheless it should have a place 
in all large ornamental plantations because it blos- 
soms about the same time as the Cockspur Thorn, 
when almost all of the other thorns are past bloom- 
ing. The leaves are usually wedge shaped or obovate, 
with a tapering leaf stalk, and on young vigorous 
