A tree, 20°—25° high, with a trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, branches spreading out into a broad flat-topped head, and branchlets pilose when they first appear, soon glabrous, becoming reddish brown, unarmed or armed with chestnut-brown or gray spines 1½′—2′ long.
Distribution. Low woods near Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana.
23. [Cratægus crocina] Beadl.
Leaves oblong-obovate, rounded or acute at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate at the slender entire base, and sharply serrate above the middle with straight or incurved glandular teeth, when they unfold more or less pubescent, and at maturity subcoriaceous, dark green, lustrous and glabrous or glabrate above, pale and covered below with short matted pale hairs most abundant on the thin midrib and obscure primary veins, 1¼′—2′ long, and ½′—1′ wide; turning in the autumn orange, yellow, or brown; petioles slender, puberulous, about ¼′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots elliptic to oblong-obovate, acuminate more coarsely serrate, often 2½′ long and ⅚′ wide. Flowers opening at the end of April when the leaves are fully grown, ½′—⅝′ in diameter, on short villose pedicels, in compact few-flowered villose corymbs; calyx narrowly obconic, coated with matted white hairs, the lobes narrow, acute, entire or sparingly serrate, glabrous on the outer surface, slightly villose on the inner surface toward the apex; stamens 20; anthers yellow; styles usually 2 or 3. Fruit ripening in October, ellipsoidal or short-oblong, nearly ½′ long, yellow, the calyx prominent, with elongated mostly recurved lobes; nutlets usually 2, narrowed and acute at the ends, ridged on the back, about ¼′ long.
A tree, 18°—20° high, with a short trunk 4′—6′ in diameter, spreading branches forming a wide flat-topped head, and slender mostly unarmed branchlets covered at first with matted pale hairs, and dark orange-brown and puberulous in their first winter.
Distribution. Low woods near Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana.
24. [Cratægus fera] Beadl.
Leaves oblong-obovate, rounded or rarely acute at apex, gradually narrowed and concave-cuneate at the slender entire base, and sharply serrate above the middle with straight or incurved teeth, fully grown when the flowers open the middle of April and then thin, covered above by short white hairs, and slightly villose along the midrib and veins below, and at maturity coriaceous, dark green, scabrate and lustrous on the upper surface, pale and puberulous on the lower surface on the slender midrib and obscure primary veins, 2½′—3′ long, and about ¾′ wide; turning in the autumn orange, yellow, or brown; petioles slender, pubescent early in the season, becoming puberulous, ⅜′—⅝′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots oblong-obovate, rounded or acute and often short-pointed at apex, coarsely serrate, often 2½′ long, and 1¼′ wide. Flowers: ½′ in diameter, on long slender villose pedicels, in broad lax compound many-flowered corymbs covered more or less thickly with white hairs; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, slightly hairy near the base, glabrous above, the lobes narrow, acuminate, entire or sparingly glandular-dentate, glabrous on the outer surface and puberulous on the inner surface; stamens 16—20; anthers light yellow; styles usually 2 or 3. Fruit ripening in September and October, on long slender pedicels, in few-fruited drooping clusters, globose or subglobose, bright red or scarlet, ⅜′ in diameter; flesh thin and mealy; calyx enlarged, with spreading or erect persistent lobes; nutlets 2 or 3, with a high narrow ridge, ¼′—5/16′ long.