32. [Cratægus verruculosa] Sarg.
Leaves obovate to rhombic, acute or rarely rounded at apex, cuneate and entire at base, and sharply often doubly serrate above with straight or incurved glandular teeth, when they unfold dark red, covered above by short pale hairs and below by long matted white hairs most abundant on the midrib and veins, about half grown when the flowers open from the 1st to the 10th of May and then thin, dark yellow-green and scabrate on the upper surface, and paler and pubescent on the lower surface, and at maturity subcoriaceous, dark green, lustrous and nearly smooth above, pale and still pubescent below on the stout midrib and conspicuous primary veins extending very obliquely toward the end of the leaf, 1½′—2′ long, and 1′—1¼′ wide; petioles stout, wing-margined at apex, at first villose, becoming pubescent or puberulous, ¼′—½′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots often broad-ovate to oval, sharply doubly serrate with straight teeth, sometimes slightly lobed above the middle with short acute lobes, and frequently 3′ long and 2′ wide. Flowers ¾′ in diameter, on long slender villose pedicels, in broad lax compound 6—12 usually 9-flowered villose corymbs; calyx-tube broadly obconic, thickly covered with matted pale hairs, the lobes gradually narrowed from a broad base, slender, acute, tinged with red at apex, sparingly glandular-serrate, pubescent; stamens 20; anthers pale rose color; styles 3—5 surrounded at base by a broad ring of long pale hairs. Fruit ripening about the 1st of October, on stout pubescent pedicels, in drooping few-fruited clusters, subglobose, somewhat flattened and pubescent at the ends, dark red; calyx prominent, with more or less deciduous lobes; nutlets 3—5, narrowed and acute at the ends, rounded and very irregularly ridged and sometimes obscurely grooved on the back, about ¼′ long.
A tree, 20°—25° high, with a tall trunk 10′—12′ in diameter, thick spreading branches forming a broad compact round-topped symmetrical head, and stout nearly straight branchlets thickly covered with matted pale hairs when they first appear, becoming reddish or orange-brown, nearly glabrous and roughened by minute tubercles at the end of their first season, gray-brown the following year, and armed with numerous straight stout or slender dark chestnut-brown very lustrous spines ¾′—1′ long.
Distribution. Springfield, Greene County, Missouri; not rare.
33. [Cratægus sordida] Sarg.
Leaves rhombic, acute, or occasionally obovate and rarely rounded at apex, cuneate and entire below, serrate above with narrow straight or incurved glandular teeth, and occasionally irregularly divided above the middle into short acute lobes, about half grown when the flowers open the first week of May and then membranaceous, bright green, lustrous and glabrous with the exception of a few short caducous hairs on the upper surface, particularly on the midrib and principal veins, and at maturity subcoriaceous, dark green and lustrous above, paler below, generally about 1½′ long and 1¼′ wide; petioles stout, slightly winged toward the apex, at first villose, soon glabrous, about ½′ long, often bright red in the autumn; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots sometimes oblong or oval, coarsely dentate, usually divided above the middle into short acute lobes, 3′—4′ long, 2′—2½′ wide, and decurrent on the stout glandular petioles. Flowers 1′—1¼′ in diameter, on slender pedicels, in few-flowered compact slightly villose corymbs; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, the lobes narrow, acuminate, villose on the inner surface; petals dull white; stamens 20; anthers small, rose color; styles 2 or 3, surrounded at base by a narrow ring of pale hairs. Fruit ripening and falling the middle of September, on short pedicels, in few-fruited drooping clusters, globose, ⅓′—½′ in diameter, dark dull red; calyx prominent, with elongated coarsely serrate appressed or incurved lobes; flesh thin and yellow; nutlets 2 or 3, broad, rounded and ridged on the back with a low rounded ridge, ¼′ long.
A slender tree, 20°—25° high, with a tall trunk 5′—6′ in diameter, often armed with long-branched spines, small ascending branches forming a narrow oval head, and slender nearly straight branchlets, dark orange-green and villose with long scattered pale hairs sometimes persistent until autumn, dull chestnut-brown in their second season, and dark gray-brown the following year, and furnished with numerous thin nearly straight bright chestnut-brown shining spines 1′—2½′ long, or often unarmed.
Distribution. Low woods and the gravelly banks of streams in Shannon, Carter, and Ripley Counties, southern Missouri.