Note 165 — {41} Fifthly, Of Plants.

Cratægus, L. But the species are peculiar to this country, as Josselyn implies with respect to the haws which he notices. These, no doubt, included C. tomentosa, L., Gray; and perhaps, also, C. coccinea, L. Wood says, “The white thorn affords hawes as big as an English cherry; which is esteemed above a cherry for his goodness and pleasantness to the taste.”—New-England’s Prospect, chap. v. At page 72 of his Voyages, the author mentions “a small shrub, which is very common; growing sometimes to the height of elder; bearing a berry like in shape to the fruit of the white thorn; of a pale, yellow colour at first, then red (when it is ripe, of a deep purple); of a delicate, aromatical tast, but somewhat stiptick,”—which may be Pyrus arbutifolia, L. Higginson (New-England’s Plantation, l. c., p. 119) speaks of our haws almost as highly as Wood.