Distribution. Limestone soil, in upland woods and glades; common in the limestone belt of central Alabama, from the neighborhood of Gallion, Hale County to western Mississippi (Starkville, Oktibbeha County, and Brookville, Noxubee County).
77. [Cratægus Treleasei] Sarg.
Leaves ovate to elliptic, acute, concave-cuneate or rounded at the narrow base, sharply doubly serrate above with straight glandular teeth, and slightly divided into 3 or 4 pairs of narrow acuminate lateral lobes, unfolding with the opening of the flowers at the end of April or early in May and then light yellow-green tinged with bronze color, lustrous and covered above with short shining caducous white hairs and hoary-tomentose below, and at maturity thin, light yellow-green and scabrate on the upper surface, paler and pubescent on the lower surface, especially on the slender midrib, and 4 or 5 pairs of thin primary veins extending obliquely to the point of the lobes, 1¾′—2¼′ long, and 1½′—2′ wide; petioles slender, more or less wing-margined at apex, villose early in the season, pubescent in the autumn, ½′—¾′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots broad-ovate, acute, cuneate at the wide base, often 2½′—3′ long and 2′—2½′ wide; petioles stout, wing-margined at apex ¾′—1′ long. Flowers 1′ in diameter, on short stout pedicels covered with matted pale hairs, in 3—10-flowered compact compound or rarely simple villose corymbs; calyx-tube broadly obconic, covered with matted pale hairs, the lobes glabrous, narrowed from the base, with wide rounded sinuses between them, slender, acuminate, tipped with a small red gland, and glandular-serrate with stipitate red glands; stamens 20; anthers pale yellow; styles 4 or 5, usually 5. Fruit ripening at the end of September, on stout erect villose pedicels, in few-fruited clusters, subglobose, often broader than high, crimson, lustrous, marked by numerous large pale dots, pubescent at the ends, and ½′—¾′ in diameter; calyx prominent, with a short villose tube, and reflexed appressed villose lobes often deciduous from the ripe fruit; flesh thick, light yellow, dry and mealy; nutlets 4 or 5, thin, full and rounded at apex, narrowed and acute at base, grooved with a broad shallow groove and sometimes irregularly ridged on the back, about 5/16′ long.
A tree, 20°—25° high, with a tall trunk sometimes 6′ in diameter, slender branches forming a narrow open head, and thin nearly straight branchlets thickly covered at first with long lustrous white hairs, dull light reddish brown and puberulous at the end of their first season, becoming dark gray-brown, and armed with stout straight or slightly curved dark purple shining spines usually about 1¼′ long, or unarmed.
Distribution. Banks of small streams in moist soil from Doe Run to Bismarck, St. François County, Missouri.
78. [Cratægus canadensis] Sarg.
Leaves ovate, short-pointed, slightly lobed usually only above the middle with short broad acute lobes, and coarsely and frequently doubly serrate to the broad-cuneate base with spreading glandular teeth, coated above in early spring with soft white hairs, and below with dense hoary tomentum, about a third grown when the flowers open at the end of May, and at maturity thin and firm in texture, blue-green and scabrate on the upper surface, pale and pubescent on the lower surface on the midrib and primary veins, 2′—2½′ long, and 1½′ to nearly 3′ wide; petioles slender, glandular, often more or less winged above, at first tomentose, becoming nearly glabrous, ¾′—1′ in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots broad-ovate, truncate or slightly cordate at the broad base, more deeply lobed, often 2½′—3′ long and wide, the petioles wing-margined at apex often glandular, and 1′—1½′ in length. Flowers about ¾′ in diameter, in broad loose tomentose corymbs; calyx-tube broadly obconic, villose with long matted hairs, the lobes lanceolate, villose, and glandular with large red stipitate glands; stamens 20; anthers small, nearly white; styles 5, surrounded at base by a thin ring of pale tomentum. Fruit ripening early in October and falling gradually until after midwinter, on stout pedicels, in erect slightly villose few-fruited clusters, short-oblong to subglobose, crimson, lustrous, marked by large scattered pale dots, slightly hairy toward the ends, ½′—⅝′ long, ⅓′—½′ in diameter; calyx prominent, the lobes gradually narrowed from a broad base, elongated, glandular, villose, spreading or reflexed, often deciduous before the fruit ripens; flesh thin, pale yellow, dry and mealy; nutlets 5, thin, rounded and irregularly ridged on the back, ¼′ long.
A tree, 18°—30° high, with a trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, stout spreading branches forming a broad round-topped symmetrical head, and stout zigzag branchlets dark green and covered with matted pale hairs when they first appear, soon becoming light orange-brown and very lustrous, and armed with numerous stout straight or slightly curved dark chestnut-brown shining spines 2′—2½′ long.