A tree, sometimes 18°—20° high, with a trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, spreading branches forming a broad flat-topped head, and stout chestnut-brown branchlets at first pilose, becoming glabrous before autumn, and usually unarmed.
Distribution. Low woods west of Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana.
21. [Cratægus berberifolia] T. & G.
Leaves oblong-obovate to elliptic, rounded or gradually narrowed at apex, narrowed from above the middle to the cuneate entire base, and serrate above with straight or incurved teeth, nearly fully grown when the flowers open at the end of March or early in April and then roughened above by short rigid white hairs, and whitish and pubescent below, and at maturity subcoriaceous, dark green, lustrous and nearly glabrous on the upper surface, pale and pubescent on the lower surface especially on the thin midrib and slender primary veins, 1½′—2′ long, and ¾′—1′ wide; petioles comparatively slender, at first densely villose, becoming glabrous, usually about ½′ in length. Flowers ½′—⅔′ in diameter, on slender villose pedicels, in compact mostly 4—5-flowered villose corymbs; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, thickly coated with long matted pale hairs, the lobes slender, acuminate, sparingly villose or nearly glabrous on the outer surface, villose on the inner surface, entire or slightly serrate; stamens 20; anthers yellow; styles 2 or 3, surrounded at base by a narrow ring of pale hairs. Fruit ripening early in October, on slender pedicels, in few-fruited drooping puberulous clusters, subglobose, orange with a red cheek, about ½′ in diameter; calyx-tube slightly enlarged, with spreading or incurved lobes; flesh thin and yellow; nutlets 2 or 3, slightly ridged on the back, about ¼′ long.
A tree, 20°—25° high, with a tall trunk 8′—10′ in diameter, covered with dark gray scaly bark, stout branches spreading into a broad flat-topped head, and slender branchlets covered at first with matted white hairs, becoming glabrous and light orange-brown at the end of their first season, and pale gray-brown the following year, and unarmed or armed with occasional slender nearly straight red-brown spines 1′—1½′ long.
Distribution. Borders of prairies and low moist soil a few miles west of Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana.
22. [Cratægus edura] Beadl.
Leaves oblong-obovate, rounded and obtuse or occasionally acute at apex, gradually narrowed from above the middle to the cuneate base, and serrate only at the apex, nearly fully grown when the flowers open early in April and then thin, dark green and puberulous above especially on the midrib, very pale and villose below, and at maturity thick and coriaceous, 1¼′—1½′ long, and 1½′—1¾′ wide, with a slender midrib, and primary veins within the parenchyma; turning in the autumn orange, yellow, or brown; petioles slender, light yellow, pilose, ⅛′—¼′ in length. Flowers ⅜′—½′ in diameter, on short sparingly villose pedicels, in compact hairy 5—12-flowered corymbs; calyx narrowly obconic, glabrous or with a few hairs at the base, the lobes narrow, acuminate, glabrous; stamens 16—20; anthers pale yellow or nearly white; styles 2 or 3. Fruit ripening and falling in September, in few-fruited drooping clusters, subglobose, orange or yellow with a red cheek, about 5/16′ in diameter; calyx-lobes little enlarged, closely appressed, often deciduous; nutlets 2 or 3, rather obscurely ridged on the back, about ¼′ long.