28. [Cratægus collina] Chapm.
Leaves obovate to oval or occasionally to rhombic, acute, gradually narrowed or broadly cuneate at the entire base, and irregularly and often doubly serrate above with glandular incurved or straight teeth, when they unfold bright red and covered with soft pale hairs most abundant on the under side of the midrib and principal veins, less than one third grown when the flowers open at the end of April, and at maturity subcoriaceous, yellow-green on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, glabrous with the exception of a few hairs on the under side of the stout yellow midrib and 4 or 5 pairs of slender primary veins, 1½′—2′ in length, and 1′—1¼′ wide; petioles slender, villose, soon glabrous, more or less winged toward the apex, ¼′—½′ long; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots frequently divided into short broad acute lateral lobes, more coarsely dentate and often 3′ long and 2½′ wide, with a stout broadly winged petiole generally light red like the lower side of the base of the midrib. Flowers ¾′ in diameter, on long stout pedicels, in broad many-flowered villose corymbs; calyx-tube broadly obconic, villose particularly toward the base, the lobes gradually narrowed from a broad base, acuminate, usually glabrous on the outer surface, villose on the inner surface, finely glandular-serrate with dark glands, bright red toward the apex; stamens usually 20; anthers large, pale yellow; styles 5. Fruit ripening in September, on stout elongated pedicels, in few-fruited erect or drooping puberulous clusters, subglobose but sometimes rather broader than long, dull red, marked by small pale dots, ⅓′—½′ in diameter; calyx enlarged, the lobes closely appressed, glandular-serrate, mostly persistent; flesh yellow; nutlets 5, broad and rounded at the ends, ridged and often grooved on the back, about ¼′ long.
A tree, usually 15°—20° but occasionally 25° high, with a tall straight trunk often buttressed at base, frequently armed with numerous large much-branched spines sometimes 6′—8′ long, stout wide-spreading branches forming a handsome flat-topped symmetrical head, and branchlets tinged with red and villose with long matted silky white hairs when they first appear, soon puberulous, and dull reddish brown, becoming gray in their second year, and furnished with stout lustrous spines 2′—3′ long.
Distribution. Hillsides in rich soil in the foothill region of the southern Appalachian Mountains from southwestern Virginia to central Georgia and westward to northeastern Mississippi and middle Tennessee; in central Alabama; ascending to altitudes of 2500° above the sea.
29. [Cratægus amnicola] Beadl.
Leaves obovate, oval or ovate, acute or acuminate at apex, gradually narrowed and concave-cuneate at the entire base, coarsely sometimes doubly serrate above with straight or incurved glandular teeth, and incisely lobed above the middle with short acute or acuminate lobes, deeply tinged with red and covered with short pale mostly caducous hairs when they unfold, about half grown and sparingly villose on the midrib and veins when the flowers open late in April or early in May, and at maturity subcoriaceous, bright green, glabrous, 1¼′—1½′ long, and 1′—1¼′ wide; turning in the autumn yellow, orange, red, and brown; petioles slender, sparingly villose early in the season, becoming glabrous, sometimes slightly glandular, ¼′—⅓′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots sometimes 2′ long and 1½′ wide. Flowers about ⅝′ in diameter, on elongated slender slightly villose pedicels, in narrow many-flowered villose corymbs; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, glabrous or with a few scattered hairs at the base, the lobes narrow, acuminate, glandular-serrate, glabrous; stamens 20; anthers nearly white; styles 3—5. Fruit on slender elongated glabrous pedicels, in drooping few-fruited clusters, subglobose, dull red, about ⅓′ in diameter; calyx enlarged, with elongated coarsely serrate reflexed conspicuous lobes; flesh yellow, thin, and firm; nutlets 3—5, rounded or slightly grooved on the back, nearly ¼′ long.
A tree, occasionally 25° high, with a trunk 8′—12′ in diameter, spreading or ascending branches forming a large wide head, and branchlets villose at first with long matted white hairs, soon glabrous, becoming orange-brown and ultimately ashy gray, and unarmed, or armed with stout spines 1¼′—2′ long.
Distribution. Low moist woods and the borders of streams, southeastern Tennessee, northwestern Georgia, and northeastern Alabama; common.