69. [Cratægus sera] Sarg.
Leaves oblong-ovate, acute or acuminate, rounded, truncate or slightly cordate at the broad base, irregularly divided into 4 or 5 pairs of short acute lateral lobes, and sharply and sometimes doubly serrate nearly to the base with straight glandular teeth, unfolding about the 1st of May with the opening of the flowers and then covered above with short soft white hairs and tomentose below, and at maturity membranaceous, dark yellow-green and glabrous on the upper surface, pubescent on the lower surface, 2′—4′ long, and 2½′—3′ wide, with a slender midrib, and thin remote primary veins extending to the point of the lobes; petioles slender, tomentose, becoming pubescent, 1′—1½′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots more deeply lobed, and often 4′—5′ long and 3′—4′ wide. Flowers ¾′ in diameter, on stout densely villose pedicels, in compact many-flowered tomentose corymbs; calyx-tube broadly obconic, coated with broad matted pale hairs, the lobes broad, acute or acuminate, glandular-serrate with large dark glands, tomentose on the outer surface and villose on the inner surface; stamens 20; anthers pale yellow; styles 4 or 5, usually 5. Fruit ripening about the 1st of October, on stout puberulous or villose pedicels, in drooping or erect few-fruited clusters, obovoid or short-oblong, dull dark red, marked by small pale dots, usually slightly villose or pubescent at the ends, ⅔′ long, and ½′ in diameter; calyx enlarged, with erect, coarsely glandular-serrate, incurved lobes often deciduous before the ripening of the fruit; flesh thick, dry and mealy; nutlets usually 5, thin, light brown, irregularly grooved on the back with a broad shallow groove, ¼′ long.
A tree, 30°—40° high, with a tall straight trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, thick branches forming a broad round-topped symmetrical head, and branchlets hoary-tomentose at first, becoming light red-brown and puberulous and ultimately pale orange-brown, and armed with occasional straight or slightly curved chestnut-brown lustrous spines 1¼′—1½′ in length.
Distribution. Walpole Island, Lamberton County, southwestern Ontario; Belle Isle in the Detroit River, near Port Huron, St. Clair County, and in the neighborhood of Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan; northeastern Illinois (Cook, Will, Lake and Dupage Counties), and in the neighborhood of Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin.
70. [Cratægus arkansana] Sarg.
Leaves oblong-ovate or oval, acute, rounded, broadly cuneate or truncate at base, usually divided above the middle into 3 or 4 pairs of short broad acute lobes, and serrate sometimes to the base with short straight glandular teeth, when the flowers open about the middle of May nearly one third grown and coated with soft white hairs, and at maturity thick and leathery, dull dark green and glabrous on the upper surface, pale yellow-green on the lower surface, 2′—3′ long, and 1¾′—2′ wide, with a stout light yellow midrib and primary veins slightly villose below, conspicuous secondary veins and reticulate veinlets; late in October and in November turning bright clear yellow; petioles stout, deeply grooved, more or less winged toward the apex, glandular with minute usually deciduous dark glands, at first tomentose, ultimately glabrous or puberulous, turning dark red after midsummer, 1′—1½′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots broad-ovate, rounded or truncate at base, often 4′ long and 3′ wide. Flowers nearly 1′ in diameter, on short stout pedicels, in broad rather compact many-flowered villose corymbs; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, coated with long matted pale hairs, the lobes short, acute, coarsely glandular-serrate, glabrous or slightly villose; stamens 20; anthers large, pale yellow; styles 5. Fruit ripening at the end of October and falling gradually at the end of several weeks, on stout villose pedicels, in few-fruited drooping clusters, short-oblong or rarely obovoid, rounded and slightly tomentose at the ends, bright crimson, very lustrous, marked by few large dark dots, ¾′—1′ long, about ¾′ in diameter; calyx little enlarged, with small linear-lanceolate coarsely glandular-serrate erect and persistent lobes; flesh thick, yellow, subacid; nutlets 5, small in comparison to the size of the fruit, thin, rounded or slightly and irregularly ridged on the back, ⅓′ long.
A tree, 20° high, with a tall straight stem, thick slightly ascending wide-spreading branches forming a broad open irregular head, and stout branchlets dark green and covered early in the season with long pale hairs, becoming orange-brown, glabrous, and very lustrous in their first winter, and unarmed or armed with occasional straight light chestnut-brown shining spines, ⅓′—½′ in length.
Distribution. Bottom-lands of the White River near Newport, Jackson County, Arkansas; hardy as far north as eastern Massachusetts, and unsurpassed late in the autumn in the beauty of its large brilliant abundant fruits long persistent on the branches.