It is impossible to account for the winter flowering of the Hawthorn, though it was undoubtedly owing to a natural cause. Ashmole, in 1672, mentions having seen the branch of a Hawthorn, "having greene leaves, faire buds, and full flowers, all thick and very beautifull, and (which is more notable) many of the hawes and berries upon it red and plump; some of which," he says, "is yet preserved in the plante booke of my collection." This branch he had from Edgeworth, near Middlesex. Culpepper also mentions a Hawthorn which grew at Romney Marsh, and another near Nantwich, in Cheshire, where it flowered both at May and Christmas; though he says that if the weather was frosty it did not flower for the second time until January, or till the hard weather was over. In 1752, when our fathers introduced what is commonly called the "New Style," our Glastonbury Thorn figured as a very important tree. This change, which has made many of the old proverbs respecting the seasons seem less wise than they really are, gave great offence to the uneducated class of the community. It not only seemed to them an attempt to alter the course of nature, but it caused even the very Psalms in the Prayer-Books to occur on what they deemed the wrong days; and all public evils, as unfruitful seasons, wars, and epidemics, were attributed to the fancied impiety of the rulers of the land. The Rev. W. T. Bree relates the complaints of an old labourer in an obscure village in Yorkshire, who assured him that the inhabitants of that parish were so disgusted with the change, that they were at the pains of procuring a minister at their own private expense to perform Divine service upon Old Christmas-day, making it also a point to work as usual on that newly appointed. Moreover, these simple villagers actually sent a deputation down to Glastonbury for the purpose of consulting the holy thorn on the occasion, a sprig of which, gathered on Old Christmas-day in leaf, or in flower, the narrator forgets which, was brought back in triumph to the village. Many other persons at the same time consulted the old thorn, which would not swerve from its integrity to the old anniversary, but was covered on Christmas-day with its blooms. A large concourse of people assembled at Glastonbury to see if it would flower on the day appointed by Parliament, but not a blossom appeared, and the general dissatisfaction was greatly increased by the circumstance. The well-known haws which redden on the Hawthorn boughs in autumn and winter among the falling leaves, are a useful store to the birds till the frost deprives them of their flavour. Dr. Withering mentions that a variety of the tree with white leaves was found near Bampton, in Oxfordshire. It is generally supposed that our name of Hawthorn was derived from that of the fruit; but many etymologists think that the haw took its name from the tree, and that the English word is a corruption of the German or Dutch name of Hedgethorn; the Germans terming our plant Hagedorn, and the Dutch Haagdorn. Our name of Whitethorn has its synonym in several countries: thus the Italians term it Bianco spino, and the Spaniards Espino blanco. And the name by which it is called in France has a very elegant allusion. The French term it Aubépine, signifying the morning of the year, the word aube expressing the white or grey twilight before sunrise. Though our haws are of little worth to any but the schoolboy, the fruits of some species are good, and the Azarole of South Europe is the very pleasant and juicy fruit of a Hawthorn. The old herbalists recommended that the common haws should be bruised and boiled in wine, and taken as a remedy for "tormenting pains;" while they held also that sponges dipped in the distilled water of the haws, and applied to "any place where thorns or The application splinters doe abide in the flesh, it will notably draw them out." probably would be useful, as it would have the effect of a poultice. the Hawthorn affords a good yellow dye, and when mixed with copperas gives a black colour. The following verses were written for this volume by H. G. Adams : TO THE HAWTHORN-TREE. "Oh fair and fragrant Hawthorn-tree! Thou hast thy dewy wine! And memories are thine! "How many tones of childish mirth, How many tiny feet have trode And thy perfume inhale; The throstle greet thee, year by year, "How many wanderers far away Seen but in visions now! "Oh fair and fragrant Hawthorn-tree! The rugged ways of life; "How many sinking hearts that fain 18. COTONEÁSter. 1. C. vulgáris (Common Cotoneaster).—Leaves oval, rounded at the base; flower-stalks and margins of the calyx downy. Plant perennial. This plant is not known to occur in a truly wild state in more than one place in this kingdom. This is at Ormeshead, in Caernarvonshire, where it grows on limestone cliffs. In May and June the small solitary rose-coloured drooping flowers peep from among the dark green leaves, and are succeeded in autumn by red, coral-like berries. Mr. Christy, in his notice of the plants observed during a tour in North Wales, thus remarks on this plant. Referring to heavy and continued rain which just then prevailed at the village of Llandudno, he says, "I was, however, too anxious to gather Cotoneaster vulgaris to be detained by the weather; and accordingly set off, accompanied by a guide who could speak no English, but who, the landlady assured me, knew both the plant and its places of growth. Following a steep narrow road up the hill, above the village, we reached some copper mines, overhung by a range of limestone precipices. On these rocks the Cotoneaster grows abundantly, but owing to being continually browsed on by the sheep it is very dwarfish, and probably from the same cause appears seldom to flower. Sir J. E. Smith mentions July for the Cotoneaster; whereas the few fertile specimens I found at that season bore fruit considerably advanced. Mr. Wilson mentions May, which certainly agrees better with the state in which I found the plant." This writer remarks that the rocks were everywhere covered with the Common Rock rose (Helianthemum vulgare) intermixed with a profusion of the rarer Hoary dwarf Rock rose (Helianthemum canum). ORDER XXVII. ONAGRARIE.-WILLOW-HERB TRIBE. Calyx of 4, sometimes 2 lobes, which in the bud are attached to each other by their edges; calyx-tube more or less united to the ovary; petals as many as the lobes of the calyx, twisted while in bud; stamens 4 or 8, rarely 2, springing from the mouth of the calyx; ovary of 2 or 4 cells, often crowned by a disk; stigma knobbed, or 4-lobed; fruit a berry, or 4-celled capsule. This Order consists of herbaceous plants or shrubs, found chiefly in the temperate parts of the world, especially in America and Europe. None of the plants contain unwholesome properties, but they contribute little either to medicinal or domestic purposes, though some of the species add largely to the beauty of our gardens. Several of our most common and ornamental flowers are included in it, as the Fuchsias, Clarkias, and Evening Primroses, of which we have so many cultivated kinds. 1. EPILÓBIUM (Willow Herb).-Calyx 4-parted, the lobes not combined after expansion; petals 4; stamens 8; capsule long, 4-sided, 4-celled, 4-valved; seeds numerous, tufted with down. Name from the Greek epi, upon, and lobos, a pod; the flowers being placed at the top of a seed vessel, shaped somewhat like a pod. 2. ENOTHÉRA (Evening Primrose).-Calyx 4-parted, the lobes more or less combined after expansion, and bent back; stamens 8; capsule 4-celled, 4-valved ; seeds numerous, not bearded. Name in Greek signifying "catching the flavour of wine." 3. ISNÁRDIA.-Calyx 4-parted; petals 4, or none; stamens 4; capsule inversely egg-shaped, 4-angled, 4-celled, 4-valved, crowned with the calyx. Named after Antoine d'Isnard, a French botanist. 4. CIRCEA (Enchanter's Nightshade).-Calyx 2-parted; petals 2; stamens 2; capsule 2-celled, each cell containing a seed. Name from Circe, the enchantress. 1. EPILOBIUM (Willow-Herb). * Petals unequal in size; stamens bent down. 1. E. angustifolium (Rose Bay, or Flowering Willow).-Leaves scattered, lanceolate, veined, smooth; flowers somewhat spiked. Plant perennial. A variety of this plant occurs very commonly in gardens, having larger flowers and shorter capsules, which is sometimes called E. brachycarpum; and another, with smaller flowers and longer capsules, is sometimes termed E. macrocarpum. This Willow-herb is a rare plant in moist woods in England, though less so in Scotland. Some botanists have thought it to be not truly wild, but it has long established itself, and, in some woods, as in those about Wrington, in Somersetshire, whole acres of ground are covered with it; and it occurs in many parts of North Wales. It does not seem to have been common in Gerarde's time, for he mentions one place only where it might be found. "It groweth," he says, "in Yorkshire, in a place called the Hooke, neere unto a close, called the Cowpasture, from whence I had these plants, which doe grow in my garden, very goodly to behold, for the decking up of houses and gardens." The old herbalist describes it as a "goodly and stately plant, having leaves like the greatest willow, or ozier. The branches," he says, come out of the ground in great number, growing to the height of sixe foote, garnished with brave flowers of greate beautie, consisting of fower leaves apiece, of an orient purple colour." The variety so common in gardens, often, by its profusion there, occasions much trouble to the gardener, not so much by the seed which it produces, as the roots which creep to 66 |