73. [Cratægus limaria] Sarg.
Cratægus Mackensenii Sarg.
Leaves ovate, acute, concave-cuneate or rounded at base, coarsely often doubly serrate with broad straight glandular teeth, and slightly divided into 3 or 4 pairs of small acute lateral lobes, not more than a quarter grown when the flowers open early in April and then thin, yellow-green and covered above with short white hairs and thickly coated below with hoary tomentum, and at maturity light green and scabrate on the upper surface, pale and tomentose on the lower surface, 2½′—3′ long, and 1½′—2′ wide, with a stout midrib and thin primary veins; petioles slender, slightly wing-margined at apex, covered when they first appear with long matted white hairs, villose through the season, and 1′—1½′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots broad-ovate, rounded or cordate at the wide base, more deeply lobed, and often 4′ long and broad. Flowers opening early in April, ⅘′—1′ in diameter, on long slender pedicels coated with matted white hairs, in compact 15—20-flowered villose corymbs; calyx-tube broadly obconic, thickly covered with white hairs, the lobes gradually narrowed from the base, wide, acuminate, laciniately glandular-serrate, villose; stamens 20; anthers white; styles 3—5, surrounded at base by a narrow ring of pale tomentum. Fruit ripening in October, on long stout erect or spreading hairy pedicels, in few-fruited clusters, ellipsoidal to ovoid or short-oblong, rounded at apex, truncate at base, crimson, lustrous, marked by large pale dots, villose especially at the ends, ½′—⅗′ in diameter; calyx prominent, with a long villose tube, and erect villose persistent lobes dark red on the upper side below the middle, their tips slightly spreading or incurved; flesh thick, yellow, dry and mealy; nutlets 3—5, narrowed and rounded at apex, rounded at the broad base, slightly grooved on the back, ⅕′—¼′ long.
A tree, often 30° high, with a tall trunk 8′—12′ in diameter, covered with dark scaly bark, stout ascending branches forming a narrow irregular head, and slender zigzag branchlets thickly coated when they first appear with long-white hairs, light orange-brown, lustrous, pubescent and marked by pale lenticels at the end of their first season, dull gray-brown and glabrous the following year, and armed with slender straight or slightly curved purple ultimately ashy gray spines 2′—2½′ long.
Distribution. In dense woods on the rich bottom-lands of the Red River near Fulton, Hempstead County, Arkansas; river banks; western Texas (Guadalupe River, near Victoria, Victoria County; Cibolo River, Sutherland Springs, Wilson County; San Antonio River, Bexar County; C. Mackensenii Sarg.).
74. [Cratægus viburnifolia] Sarg.
Leaves elliptic to ovate, oval or slightly obovate, acute or rounded at apex, concave-cuneate at the entire base, coarsely often doubly serrate above with straight glandular teeth, and slightly and irregularly divided above the middle into 2 or 3 pairs of small acute lobes, half grown when the flowers open about the 20th of March and then thin, yellow-green and roughened above by short white hairs and hoary-tomentose below, and at maturity thick, deep green, very lustrous and scabrate on the upper surface, coated on the lower surface with pale hairs, 2½′—3½′ long, and 2′—2½′ wide, with a prominent midrib and primary veins; petioles slightly wing-margined at apex, densely hoary-tomentose early in the season, becoming glabrous, ⅖′—1½′ in length. Flowers about ¾′ in diameter, on long slender tomentose pedicels, in wide lax mostly 5—12-flowered corymbs, with large lanceolate to spatulate foliaceous bracts and bractlets slightly serrate above the middle, and generally persistent until after the petals fall; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, thickly coated with matted white hairs, the lobes gradually narrowed from the base, long, slender, acuminate, laciniately glandular-serrate, slightly villose on the outer surface, densely villose on the inner surface; stamens 20; anthers white; styles 4 or 5. Fruit ripening early in October, on long slender drooping slightly hairy pedicels, in few-fruited clusters, subglobose, bright canary yellow, about 1′ in diameter; calyx little enlarged, with spreading lobes; flesh thick, light yellow, soft and succulent; nutlets 4 or 5, gradually narrowed and rounded at the ends, irregularly ridged on the back with a broad grooved ridge, ⅓′ long.
A tree, 30°—35° high, with a tall trunk sometimes a foot in diameter, covered with gray scaly bark, large ascending and spreading branches forming an open irregular head, and stout nearly straight unarmed branchlets thickly coated with hoary tomentum when they first appear, becoming purple, lustrous and nearly glabrous at the end of their first season and dark brown or gray-brown the following year.