Plate XXVIITHE HAWTHORN1. Hawthorn Tree in Early Summer2. Leaves and Blossoms3. Fruit
Plate XXVII
THE HAWTHORN1. Hawthorn Tree in Early Summer2. Leaves and Blossoms3. Fruit
Even in that far-off time people had discovered that nothing makes so good a hedge as youngthorn trees. They grow very quickly and send out many side-shoots and small branches. Each branch bears sharp thorns, and so closely do these thorny branches grow together that it is impossible to push your hand through the hedge without being badly scratched. Young cattle and horses love to feed on the Hawthorn leaves, and one wonders how they can eat them without getting many scratches.
Long after the time of Ulysses we find that bunches of flowering Hawthorn were carried in wedding processions as an emblem of hope, and torches made of its wood were burned. There is a strange old legend which tells how Joseph of Arimathea landed on the island of Avalon at Christmas-tide. He was very weary, and lay down to rest, but first he planted his staff of Hawthorn firmly in the ground beside him. And in the morning he found that the staff had put out roots and was covered with Hawthorn blossoms. By this he knew it was meant that he should stay in Avalon, and he built a monastery for himself and his brethren and remained there till he died.
Until not so long ago the country people in England used to hold gay sports in the village in the month of May. A tall mast, or Maypole, was planted in the ground, and the men and maidens decorated it with wreaths of Hawthorn blossoms. Then they danced, and sang, and heldmerry games around the Maypole in honour of summer’s return.
In early spring the Hawthorn tree, if you find one growing singly in a field or meadow, is most easily recognised by its bushy appearance. The tree trunk is dark grey and very rough; often it is twisted like a rope, but it is rarely a thick trunk, as you seldom find a large Hawthorn. Even when very old-about two hundred and fifty years some are said to live—the Hawthorn is always a small tree.
In April the young leaf buds appear; pale green knobs, or little bundles, bursting from every branch. Each leaf (2) is cut up into blunt fingers, and soon it loses its paleness and becomes dark green and glossy. In autumn these leaves change to gold and dark red and brown; but the frosty nights and cold winds soon strip them from the branches.
May is the month when the flowers (2) begin to bloom—clusters of tiny snow-white balls, each at the end of a slender green stalk. In England it was the custom to give a basin of cream for breakfast to the person who first brought home a branch of Hawthorn in blossom on the first of May.
When the flower balls or buds unclose, you find that they have five snow-white petals, which are set in the throat of the calyx cup. Within this ring of petals, round the mouth of the cup, growmany slender stamens, each with a bright pink head. And if you look at the back of the flower, you will see five green points which stand out like the rays of a star behind the white petals. These are the sepals.
Below this green star the stalk looks slightly swollen: this swelling contains the seed, and by the time autumn comes it will have grown into a small green berry. After the white petals and the pink-headed stamens have fallen, you will find clusters of these berries, which are called haws, each with the withered remains of the sepals clinging to the top, as you find them in the Rose and in the Apple. The berries (3) become crimson when the frost comes, and birds eat them greedily.
We have few trees which flower so beautifully as the Hawthorn. In May and June the hedgerows are laden with its masses of snowy blossoms. Sometimes you will find Hawthorns on which the flowers are a vivid crimson, and these are so transparently beautiful they look as if the light shone through them. And in autumn no tree is more attractive than the Hawthorn, with its gleaming berries and many-coloured leaves.
The wood of the Hawthorn is not very serviceable. It is hard and may be highly polished, but the trees are too small for the timber to be useful.
The branches, like those of the Ash and the Whin, burn readily, even when green, and in Scotland the bark was used in olden days to dye wool black.