Part 39

Thorns numerous, straight, long (2-4 inches), slender; leaves thick, smooth, dark green, shining on the upper surface, pale beneath, turning dark orange red in autumn; outline obovate-oblanceolate, serrate above, entire or nearly so near base; apex acute or rounded; base decidedly wedge-shaped shaped; leafstalks short.

Fruit globose or very slightly pear-shaped, remaining on the tree throughout the winter.

Hardy throughout southern New England; used frequently for a hedge plant.

=Crataegus punctata, Jacq.=

Thickets, hillsides, borders of forests.

Quebec and Ontario.

Small tree, common in Vermont (Brainerd) and occasional in the other New England states.

South to Georgia.

Thorns 1-2 inches long, sometimes branched; leaves 1-2-1/2 inches long, smooth on the upper surface, finally smooth and dull beneath; outline obovate, toothed or slightly lobed above, entire or nearly so beneath, short-pointed or somewhat obtuse at the apex, wedge-shaped at base; leafstalk slender, 1-2 inches long; calyx lobes linear, entire; fruit large, red or yellow.

=Crataegus coccinea, L.=

In view of the fact of great variation in the bark, leaves, inflorescence, and fruit of plants that have all passed in this country as C. coccinea, and in view of the further uncertainty as to the plant on which the species was originally founded, it seems "best to consider the specimen in the Linnaean herbarium as the type of C. coccinea which can be described as follows:

"Leaves elliptical or on vigorous shoots mostly semiorbicular, acute or acuminate, divided above the middle into numerous acute coarsely glandular-serrate lobes, cuneate and finely glandular-serrate below the middle and often quite entire toward the base, with slender midribs and remote primary veins arcuate and running to the points of the lobes, at the flowering time membranaceous, coated on the upper surface and along the upper surface of the midribs and veins with short soft white hairs, at maturity thick, coriaceous, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, glabrous or nearly so, 1-1/2-2 inches long and 1-1-1/2 inches wide, with slender glandular petioles 3/4-1 inch long, slightly grooved on the upper surface, often dark red toward the base, and like the young branchlets villous with pale soft hairs; stipules lanceolate to oblanceolate, conspicuously glandular-serrate with dark red glands, 1/2-3/4 inch long. Flowers 1/2-3/4 inch in diameter when fully expanded, in broad, many-flowered, compound tomentose cymes; bracts and bractlets linear-lanceolate, coarsely glandular-serrate, caducous; calyx tomentose, the lobes lanceolate, glandular-serrate, nearly glabrous or tomentose, persistent, wide-spreading or erect on the fruit, dark red above at the base; stamens 10; anthers yellow; styles 3 or 4. Fruit subglobose, occasionally rather longer than broad, dark crimson, marked with scattered dark dots, about 1/2 inch in diameter, with thin, sweet, dry yellow flesh; nutlets 3 or 4, about 1/4 inch long, conspicuously ridged on the back with high grooved ridges.

"A low, bushy tree, occasionally 20 feet in height with a short trunk 8-10 inches in diameter, or more frequently shrubby and forming wide dense thickets, and with stout more or less zigzag branches bright chestnut brown and lustrous during their first year, ashy-gray during their second season and armed with many stout, chestnut-brown, straight or curved spines 1-1-1/2 inches long. Flowers late in May. Fruit ripens and falls toward the end of October, usually after the leaves.

"Slopes of hills and the high banks of salt marshes usually in rich, well-drained soil, Essex county, Massachusetts, John Robinson, 1900; Gerrish island, Maine, J. G. Jack, 1899-1900; Brunswick, Maine, Miss Kate Furbish, May, 1899; Newfoundland, A. C. Waghorne, 1894."

=Crataegus mollis, Scheele.=

Crataegus subvillosa, Schr. Crataegus coccinea, var. mollis, T. & G.

THORN.

=Habitat and Range.=--Bordering on low lands and along streams.

Provinces of Quebec and Ontario.

Maine,--as far north as Mattawamkeag on the middle Penobscot, Dover on the Piscataquis, and Orono on the lower Penobscot; reported also from southern sections; Vermont,--Charlotte (Hosford); Massachusetts,--in the eastern part infrequent; no stations reported in the other New England states.

South to Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and Texas; west to Michigan and Missouri.

=Habit.=--Shrub or often a small tree, 20-30 feet high, with trunk 6-12 inches in diameter, often with numerous suckers; branches at 4-6 feet from the ground, at an acute angle with the stem, lower often horizontal or declining; head spreading, widest at base, spray short, angular, and bushy; thorns slender, 1-3 inches long, straight or slightly recurved.

=Bark.=--Bark of the whole tree, except the ultimate shoots, light gray, on the trunk and larger branches separating lengthwise into thin narrow plates, in old trees dark gray and more or less shreddy; season's shoots reddish or yellowish-brown, glossy.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds small, ovate, reddish-brown, shining; scales broad, glandular-edged. Leaves simple, alternate, 3-5 inches long, light green above, lighter beneath, broad-ovate to broad-elliptical; rather regularly and slightly incised with fine, glandular-tipped teeth; apex acute; base wedge-shaped, truncate, or subcordate; roughish above and slightly pubescent beneath, especially along the veins; leaf-stalk pubescent; stipules linear, glandular-edged, deciduous.

=Inflorescence.=--May to June. In cymes from the season's growth; flowers white, 3/4 inch broad, ill-smelling; calyx lobes 5, often incised, pubescent; petals roundish; stamens indefinite, styles 3-5; flower stems pubescent; bracts glandular.

=Fruit.=--A drupe-like pome, 1/2-1 inch long, bright scarlet, larger than the fruit of the other New England species; ripens and falls in September.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy in New England. An attractive and useful tree in low plantations; rarely for sale by nurserymen or collectors; propagated from the seed.

1. Winter buds. 2. Branch with thorns. 3. Flowering branch. 4. Flower with part of perianth and stamens removed. 5. Fruiting branch.