Distinct in the Crus-galli Group in its head of slender pendulous branches.
13. [Cratægus arborea] Beadl.
Leaves obovate to oblanceolate, narrowed, acute or rounded at apex, gradually narrowed and concave-cuneate at the long tapering entire base, and finely serrate above the middle with minute straight teeth, nearly fully grown when the flowers open the middle of April and then glabrous, and at maturity subcoriaceous, bright green and lustrous above, pale below, 1¾′—2′ long, and about ¾′ wide; turning in the autumn orange, yellow, and brown; petioles ⅓′—⅔′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots coarsely serrate, occasionally slightly lobed, and often 3′ long and 1½′ wide. Flowers ½′ in diameter, on slender pedicels, in broad many-flowered glabrous corymbs; calyx narrowly obconic, glabrous, the lobes slender, elongated, acuminate, slightly serrate; stamens 20; anthers pale yellow; styles usually 2. Fruit ripening in September and October, globose to subglobose, ¼′—⅓′ in diameter, red, the calyx enlarged, with elongated coarsely glandular-serrate reflexed lobes; nutlets usually 2, about ¼′ long.
A tree, sometimes 30° high, with a trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, spreading or ascending branches forming a broad handsome head, and branchlets orange-green in their first season, becoming reddish in their first winter, and usually unarmed.
Distribution. In open woods usually in clay soil near Montgomery, Montgomery County, Alabama.
14. [Cratægus uniqua] Sarg.
Leaves oblong-obovate, acute or occasionally rounded at apex, gradually narrowed to the long cuneate base, and finely serrate above the middle with straight or incurved glandular teeth, more than half grown and sparingly villose on the upper side of the midrib when the flowers open the middle of April, and at maturity glabrous, dark green and lustrous above, paler below, 1′—1½′ long, and ½′—¾′ wide, with a thin midrib, and slender primary veins mostly within the parenchyma; petioles slender, glabrous, ⅓′—½′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots broad-obovate, rounded or acute at apex, coarsely serrate, 2′—2½′ long, and 1′—1¼′ wide. Flowers ⅖′—½′ in diameter, on slender pedicels, in mostly 5—8-flowered glabrous corymbs; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, the lobes short and broad, acuminate, entire or slightly dentate near the middle, sparingly villose on the inner surface; stamens 20; anthers small, nearly white; styles 2 or 3. Fruit on slender drooping pedicels, short-oblong, rounded at the ends, dull red, about ½′ long and ⅓′ thick; calyx prominent, with reflexed closely appressed persistent lobes; flesh thin, dry and hard; nutlets 2 or 3, broad and rounded at base, narrowed at apex, about ¼′ long.
A tree, 18°—20° high, with a slender stem covered with close dark slightly ridged bark, small wide-spreading branches forming a flat-topped head, and slender slightly zigzag orange or red-brown branchlets unarmed, or armed with few or many straight or slightly curved dark chestnut-brown shining spines ½′—1′ in length.