Distribution. Borders of woods in low ground, valley of the Brazos River near Columbia, Brazoria County, and in low woods on the Colorado River, at Wharton, Wharton County, Texas.
75. [Cratægus Berlandieri] Sarg.
Leaves oblong-obovate or oval, acute or acuminate, gradually narrowed, cuneate and entire below the middle, coarsely and often doubly serrate with broad straight or incurved glandular teeth, and unequally divided above into numerous acute or acuminate lobes, when the flowers open from the middle to the end of March coated on the upper surface with short pale caducous hairs and on the lower surface with thick hoary tomentum, and at maturity thin and firm in texture, glabrous, dark green, and lustrous above, pale and pubescent below, and usually about 3′ long and 2′ wide, with a slender midrib, remote primary veins extending to the point of the lobes, conspicuous secondary veins, and reticulate veinlets; petioles more or less winged toward the apex, tomentose early in the season, becoming pubescent, ½′—¾′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots often 5′ long and 3′ wide, with rounded, acute lobes. Flowers ¾′ in diameter, on long stout hoary-tomentose pedicels, in broad loose many-flowered tomentose corymbs, with oblong-obovate to lanceolate finely glandular-serrate villose conspicuous bracts and bractlets; calyx-tube broadly obconic, covered with thick pale tomentum, the lobes broad, acute, very coarsely glandular-serrate, tomentose on the outer surface and villose on the inner surface; stamens 20, anthers yellow; styles 5, surrounded at base by tufts of white hairs. Fruit ripening after the middle of October, on slender elongated pedicels, in loose dropping clusters, short-oblong to subglobose, scarlet, about ½′ long; calyx much enlarged, with coarsely serrate erect and persistent villose lobes; flesh thin, yellow, dry and mealy; nutlets 5, rounded and occasionally obscurely grooved on the back, about ¼′ long.
A tree, 15°—20° high, with a tall straight trunk 8′—10′ in diameter, covered with thin dark brown furrowed bark, spreading branches forming a broad open head, and branchlets hoary-tomentose at first, soon puberulous, dull reddish brown or yellow-brown by midsummer, becoming ashy gray late in the autumn, and armed with few straight gray spines about 1′ in length.
Distribution. Low rich woods on the bottom-lands of the Brazos River at Columbia and Brazoria, Brazoria County, Texas.
76. [Cratægus meridionalis] Sarg.
Leaves elliptic to ovate or slightly obovate, acuminate, cuneate at the entire base, and coarsely often doubly serrate above with broad straight glandular teeth, coated below with hoary tomentum and covered above with short white hairs when they unfold, more than half grown when the flowers open from the first to the middle of April, and at maturity thin, yellow-green and scabrate on the upper surface, paler and villose-pubescent on the lower surface, especially on the slender midrib and primary veins, 2′—3½′ long, and 1′—2′ wide; petioles slender, slightly wing-margined at apex, densely villose-pubescent with white hairs early in the season, becoming glabrous or nearly glabrous, ½′—¾′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots broad-ovate to broad-elliptic, more coarsely serrate, occasionally slightly divided into short broad lateral lobes, often 4′ long and 2½′ wide, with a stout midrib and petioles broadly wing-margined at apex, and about ½′ in length. Flowers ¾′ in diameter, on stout pedicels thickly covered like the narrow obconic calyx-tube with matted silvery white hairs, in broad compact many-flowered villose corymbs, with conspicuous glandular-serrate villose bracts and bractlets mostly persistent until after the flowers open; calyx-lobes narrow, acuminate, laciniately glandular-serrate, slightly villose-pubescent when the buds open; stamens 20; anthers white; styles 3—5, surrounded at base by a broad ring of white tomentum. Fruit ripening from the middle to the end of September, on elongated slender puberulous pedicels, in few-fruited drooping red-stemmed clusters, short-oblong to subglobose, rounded at the ends, scarlet, ½′ to ⅔′ in diameter, the calyx persistent, much enlarged, with erect or spreading conspicuous lobes; nutlets 3—5, rounded at base, acute at apex, ridged on the back with a high rounded ridge, about ⅓′ long.
A tree, often 25° high, with a trunk 8′ in diameter, covered with dark bark slightly divided by shallow fissures into broad thin plates, spreading ashy gray branches forming a round-topped head, and slender zigzag branchlets, covered when they first appear with long white hairs, soon glabrous, orange-brown or reddish brown during their first season and dull gray the following year, and armed with numerous straight slender purple spines 1′—2′ in length.