Part 21

The Rowan tree flowers (2) blossom in May, and they grow in dense dusters, each flower at the end of a small stalk. There are many small stalks, all about the same height, and they branch again and again from the main stem, forming a thick cluster. The flowers are very delightful, though they lack the snowy beauty and have none of the delicate scent of the Hawthorn. Each Rowan flower has five green sepals and five creamy white petals. These are placed round the end of the flower stalk, which is slightly swollen, and inside this swelling lies hidden the seed-vessel; you can see three sticky threads rising from it in the centre of the ring of petals. There is a circle of yellow-headed stamens within the petal ring.

By the end of June the Rowan flowers have faded and the creamy petals strew the ground. But the tree does not only depend for its beauty on the creamy flowers or on the changing leaves.

The swollen flower stalks have been growing all summer, and now the end of each stalk has become a small round berry (3), and a dense cluster of these berries hangs in a bunch from the main stem. In autumn these berries turn a rich yellow red, and very brilliant they look among the dark green leaves. Song birds love these Rowan berries, and so long as any remain on the tree the blackbird and thrush will be its constant visitors.

When corn was scarce in the hard winters of long ago these Rowan berries were dried and made into flour. Many people to-day make them into jelly, which is a rich golden colour, but has rather a bitter taste.

The wood of the Rowan tree is very tough, and is principally used for making poles.

PLATE XXVII

THE HAWTHORN

“Mark the fair blooming of the Hawthorn tree, Who, finely clothed in a robe of white, Fills full the wanton eye with May’s delight.”

--Chaucer.

We cannot think of the Hawthorn as one of our noble forest trees, like the Oak and the Beech; it is dear to us as a village tree, a friendly, bushy tree which has grown in our garden, or in the fields and meadows close to our country cottages. We remember the long sunny May days when we gathered armfuls of its lovely blossoms, and the frosty autumn mornings when its berries shone like rubies on the bare, wind-stripped branches. It has always been in close touch with our lives, and it has left many pictures graven deep in our memory.

The Hawthorn (1), or May, or White-thorn, as it is often called from the colour of its flowers, has been known to us since very long ago. When the hero Ulysses came home from his weary wanderings, he found his old father alone; all the servants had gone to the woods to get young Hawthorn trees to make a hedge, and the old man was busy digging trenches in which to plant them.

THE HAWTHORN

1. Hawthorn Tree in Early Summer 2. Leaves and Blossoms 3. Fruit]

Even in that far-off time people had discovered that nothing makes so good a hedge as young thorn 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 held merry 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, grow many 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.

PLATE XXVIII

THE BOX

Many of us only know Box as the name given to the small bushy plant which is placed along the edges of our garden borders to keep the earth from falling out on the gravel path. And we are surprised to learn that this plant is only the Dwarf Box, and that the true Box is a tree, a fair-sized tree, which may be seen any day in Oxford growing to a height of over twenty feet. We must learn to recognise the Box tree, for in the South of England there are still many districts where it grows freely.

It has been known in this country for hundreds of years, but its fame has come down to us in a curious way. In old books we read that the Box was chiefly prized as the tree which would stand more clipping than any other. People in those days had a strange fancy for cutting trees and bushes into quaint shapes. They had Box trees which looked like peacocks, and Box trees shaped like beehives. There were arm-chairs, and tubs, and even statues made of growing Box, cut and trimmed by the gardener’s clever shears.