And with these, and a thousand such associations as these, we cannot but feel emotions of no ordinary nature when we behold this beautiful tree." And Gilpin admits, in another part of his Forest Scenery, that the Hawthorn, when entangled with an oak, or mixing with other trees, may be beautiful.
Loudon describes "the Hawthorn, C. oxyacantha, in its wild state, as a shrub, or small tree, with a smooth, blackish bark, and very hard wood. The branches are numerous and slender, furnished with sharp, awl-shaped spines. The leaves are of a deep smooth green, more or less deeply three-lobed, or five-lobed, cut and serrated, wedge-shaped, or rounded. The flowers have white petals, frequently pink, or almost scarlet, and sweet-scented." Its fragrance indeed is great, and its bloom is spread over it in profusion.
Marke the faire blooming of the Hawthorne tree,
Who, finely cloathed in a robe of white,
Fills full the wanton eye with May's delight.
Chaucer.
While "in autumn," says Gilpin, "the Hawthorn makes its best appearance. Its glowing berries produce a rich tint, which often adds great beauty to the corner of a wood, or the side of some crowded clump."
Leaves, Flowers, and Berries of C. oxyacantha.
There are many remarkable trees of this kind, but the only one we shall here particularly mention is Queen Mary's Thorn, which is thus described in that splendid work, the Arboretum Britannicum:—"The parent tree is in a garden near Edinburgh, which once belonged to the Regent Murray, and is now, 1836, in the possession of Mr. Cowan, a paper manufacturer. It is very old, and its branches have somewhat of a drooping character; but whether sufficiently so to constitute a variety worth propagating as a distinct kind, appears to us very doubtful. It may be interesting, however, to some, to continue, by extension, the individual tree under which the unfortunate Queen is supposed to have spent many hours. The fruit of this variety is rather above the middle size, long, fleshy, of a deep red, and good to eat. The height of the parent tree is thirty-three feet, and the diameter of the head thirty-six feet; the trunk divides into two limbs, at fifteen inches from the ground, one of which is one foot four inches in diameter, and the other one foot. The tree is healthy and vigorous, though, if it be true that Queen Mary sat under its shade, it must be nearly three hundred years old."