A smaller species of mespilus, familiarly known as the Chokeberry, is
more interesting as a flowering plant. It is a slender shrub, with
beautiful finely toothed leaves, bearing flowers in clusters very much
like those of the hawthorn, with white petals and purple or crimson
anthers. The flowers stand erect, but the berries, which are very
astringent and are often gathered carelessly with whortleberries, hang
from the branches in full pendent clusters. The flowers of this plant
are very conspicuous in the latter part of May in all our meadows.