34. [Cratægus brazoria] Sarg.
Leaves oval to obovate, acute or acuminate at apex, gradually narrowed, cuneate and entire at base, and coarsely and irregularly glandular-serrate above with straight spreading teeth, coated with hoary tomentum and often bright red when they unfold, nearly fully grown and covered with short soft pale hairs most abundant on the under side of the thin midrib and 3 or 4 pairs of primary veins when the flowers open from the middle to the end of March, and at maturity thin and firm in texture, glabrous, dark green and lustrous above, paler below, 2′—2½′ long, and 1¼′—1½′ wide; petioles slender, early in the season tomentose, becoming glabrous or puberulous, ½′—¾′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots broad-ovate or oblong, rounded or broad-cuneate at base, coarsely dentate, 5′ long, and 2½′ wide. Flowers ¾′ in diameter, on long slender pedicels, in broad slightly villose 7 or 8-flowered corymbs; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, coated with long matted pale hairs, the lobes narrow, acuminate, obscurely glandular-serrate or nearly entire, villose on both surfaces; stamens 20; anthers small, dark red; styles 5, surrounded at base by a thin ring of hoary tomentum. Fruit ripening after the 1st of October, in spreading or drooping few-fruited clusters, subglobose and often rather longer than broad, bright canary-yellow, marked by occasional dark dots, ⅓′—½′ long; calyx prominent, the lobes usually deciduous before the fruit ripens; flesh thin, light yellow, rather dry but sweet and edible; nutlets 5, rounded and grooved on the back, ¼′ long.
A tree, 20°—25° high, with a tall straight trunk 8′—10′ in diameter, numerous ascending branches forming a handsome symmetrical round-topped head, and branchlets covered when they first appear with matted pale hairs, dull reddish brown and often puberulous in their second season, and reddish brown the following year, and unarmed or occasionally armed with long thin gray spines.
Distribution. Low rich woods near the banks of the Brazos River, Columbia and Brazoria, Brazoria County, Texas.
35. [Cratægus dallasiana] Sarg.
Leaves oblong, acute, acuminate or rounded at apex, gradually narrowed to the concave-cuneate entire base, coarsely doubly serrate above with straight glandular teeth, and usually slightly lobed above the middle, coated below with thick hoary tomentum and villose above as they unfold, nearly fully grown and villose or tomentose below when the flowers open early in April, and at maturity thin, dark yellow-green, glabrous and lustrous on the upper surface, pale and pubescent on the lower surface on the slender midrib and 3 or 4 pairs of thin arching veins, 1¾′—2½′ long, and 1¼′—1½′ wide; petioles slender, wing-margined toward the apex, hoary-tomentose early in the season, becoming glabrous, about ½′ in length. Flowers about ⅝′ in diameter, on long slender hairy pedicels, in many-flowered densely villose corymbs; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, densely coated with long matted pale hairs, the lobes slender, acuminate, tipped with a minute red gland, sparingly and irregularly glandular-serrate, villose; stamens 20; anthers light rose color; styles 5. Fruit ripening at midsummer, on stout erect slightly hairy pedicels, in few-fruited clusters, subglobose, dull dark red, ⅜′—½′ in diameter; calyx prominent, with spreading lobes bright red on the upper side at the base; nutlets 5, acute at the narrow ends, thin, rounded and grooved with a broad shallow groove or irregularly ridged on the back, ¼′—5/16′ long.
A tree, 20°—25° high, with a tall trunk 4′—6′ in diameter, covered with pale bark, small erect branches forming an open irregular head, and slender somewhat zigzag branchlets thickly coated at first with hoary tomentum, reddish brown and lustrous before autumn, ultimately ashy gray, and armed with straight slender gray-spines 1¼′—1½′ long.
Distribution. Forest-covered bottom-lands of the small tributaries of the Trinity River, Dallas County, Texas; not common.