71. [Cratægus gravida] Beadl.
Leaves broad-ovate, acute, rounded or truncate at base, coarsely and often doubly serrate with incurved glandular teeth, and slightly incisely lobed, roughened above by short pale hairs and hoary-tomentose below when they unfold, nearly half grown when the flowers open about the 1st of May, and at maturity thin, firm, dark green, lustrous and scabrate above, paler and pubescent or puberulous below, particularly on the slender midrib and veins, 1¾′—2½′ long, and 1½′ wide; turning in the autumn yellow, orange and brown; petioles slender, tomentose early in the season, becoming pubescent or nearly glabrous, about ½′—1′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots oblong-ovate to nearly orbicular, round or cuneate at the broad base, more coarsely serrate, more deeply lobed, and often 2½′—3′ long and wide, their petioles ¾′—1′ long. Flowers about ⅝′ in diameter, on short hoary-tomentose pedicels, in narrow crowded many-flowered hoary-tomentose corymbs; calyx-tube broadly obconic, covered with matted pale hairs, the lobes gradually narrowed, acuminate, glandular-serrate, villose; stamens 20; anthers dark rose; styles 5. Fruit ripening in August and September, on elongated tomentose pedicels, in few-fruited drooping clusters, depressed-globose, red; calyx enlarged, the lobes conspicuously serrate, puberulous on the upper surface, reflexed and closely appressed, sometimes deciduous from the ripe fruit; flesh thin, yellow, dry and mealy; nutlets 5, thin, narrow and rounded at base, acute at apex, rounded and obscurely grooved on the back, about 5/16′ long.
A tree, sometimes 20° high, with a trunk 8′—10′ in diameter, heavy wide-spreading branches forming a broad round-topped head, and stout branchlets covered at first with a thick coat of matted pale hairs, orange-red and puberulous at the end of their first season, glabrous and reddish brown the following year, and armed with slender nearly straight spines about 1½′ long.
Distribution. Limestone hills in the neighborhood of Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee.
72. [Cratægus invisa] Sarg.
Leaves ovate to oval, acute or acuminate at apex, cuneate or rounded at base, coarsely often doubly serrate with broad straight glandular teeth, and slightly divided usually only above the middle into 3 or 4 pairs of small acuminate lobes, densely tomentose below and villose above when they unfold, about one third grown when the flowers open at the end of March and then thin, dark yellow-green and roughened on the upper surface by short hairs and coated below with long matted white hairs, and at maturity thin, yellow-green, scabrate and lustrous above, hairy below especially on the midrib and veins, 2½′—3′ long, and 2′—2½′ wide; petioles slender, slightly wing-margined at apex, covered with pale hairs early in the season, becoming nearly glabrous, and 1½′—2′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots broad-ovate, acuminate, abruptly cuneate at the wide base, more coarsely serrate, deeply divided into acute lateral lobes, and often 3½′—4′ long and 3′—3½′ wide; petioles slender, villose, 1½′—2′ in length. Flowers opening at the end of March, about ¾′ in diameter, on slender pedicels thickly coated like the wide calyx-tube with long matted white hairs, in broad mostly 7—12-flowered corymbs; calyx-lobes gradually narrowed from the base, short, broad, acuminate, laciniately glandular-serrate, thickly covered with long white hairs on the outer surface, villose above the middle on the inner surface; stamens 20; anthers white; styles 3—5, surrounded at base by a ring of long white hairs. Fruit ripening at the end of October, on long slender slightly hairy pedicels, in erect or spreading few-fruited clusters, short-oblong, full and rounded and slightly hairy at the ends, orange-red, marked by large pale dots, and about ½′ in diameter; calyx little enlarged, with spreading lobes dark red on the upper side below the middle and villose toward the apex; flesh thin, yellow, dry and mealy; nutlets 3—5, rounded at the ends, broader at apex than at base, rounded and only slightly grooved on the back, ⅕′ long.
A tree, sometimes 30° high, with a tall trunk covered with dark brown bark broken into small closely appressed plate-like scales, large spreading branches forming a wide irregular head, and stout slightly zigzag branchlets clothed when they first appear with hoary tomentum, dull gray-brown, marked by small pale lenticels and slightly pubescent at the end of their first season and dark gray the following year, and unarmed or armed with occasional slender straight chestnut-brown spines 1′—1¼′ long.
Distribution. In dense woods on the rich bottom-lands of Red River near Fulton, Hempstead County, and near Texarkana, Miller County, Arkansas.