Crataegus brachyacantha |
Crataegus gattingeri |
|
---|---|---|
blueberry haw, blueberry hawthorn, hoghaw, pomette bleue |
Gattinger's hawthorn |
|
Habit | Shrubs or trees, 60–100(–150) dm. | Shrubs or trees, 80 dm. |
Stems | trunk bark dark gray-brown, plated; thorns on twigs absent or present, recurved, short, to 1.5 cm. |
twigs: new growth reddish, 1-year old deep reddish brown, 2-years old dark gray-brown, older deep gray; thorns on twigs straight to recurved, 2-years old very dark reddish brown or blackish, ± slender, 2.5–3.5 cm. |
Leaves | petiole length 15–30% blade; blade elliptic, 2–3 cm, coriaceous, shiny, lobes 0, margins crenate, venation camptodromous, veins 5 or 6(–8) per side, abaxial surface glabrous, adaxial sparingly appressed-hairy, hairy on midvein, sometimes to sinuses. |
petiole length 50% blade, eglandular or with a few small glands; blade ± deltate to narrowly ovate, 2.5–5 cm, thin, base rounded to broadly cuneate, lobes 3 or 4 per side, sinuses shallow, lobe apex acute, margins serrate, teeth numerous, 2 mm, veins 5 per side, apex acute, surfaces glabrous, adaxial sparsely hairy young, especially midvein. |
Inflorescences | 15–25-flowered; branches glabrous; bracteoles caducous, narrow, small, membranous, margins eglandular, nearly glabrous. |
4–8-flowered; branches glabrous; bracteoles numerous, small, margins sessile- or stipitate-glandular. |
Flowers | 12 mm diam.; hypanthium glabrous; sepals triangular, 1.5 mm; stamens 20, anthers cream to orange, 0.5 mm; styles 4 or 5. |
15 mm diam.; sepals triangular, 4 mm, margins entire, pubescence not recorded; stamens 20, anthers pink to crimson, 0.3–0.4 mm; styles 4. |
Pomes | black to bluish black, pruinose, oblate-orbiculate, 8–14 mm diam.; flesh mealy; fruiting calyx suberect, on small collar, sepal tips often reflexed; pyrenes 4 or 5, dorsally slightly grooved, sides plane. |
greenish or greenish with pale blush young, ruddy to dull dark red when ripe, 6–10 mm diam., ± pruinose; sepals conspicuous, spreading; pyrenes 4. |
2n | = 34, 51. |
|
Crataegus brachyacantha |
Crataegus gattingeri |
|
Phenology | Flowering Apr; fruiting Sep–Nov. | Flowering Apr–May; fruiting Sep–Oct. |
Habitat | Wet prairies, alluvial flats, well-drained mesic sites, woodland margins | Open woodlands, brush |
Elevation | 10–200 m (0–700 ft) | 50–150 m (200–500 ft) |
Distribution |
AR; GA; LA; MS; OK; TX
|
AL; GA; KY; LA; MO; MS; NC; OH; PA; TN; VA; WV |
Discussion | Crataegus brachyacantha occurs throughout Louisiana, where it is locally common, and in the adjacent parts of all surrounding states. A disjunct population was known in Georgia but it cannot be found there now. The species is seemingly more shade tolerant than many other hawthorns. Crataegus brachyacantha is among the taller hawthorns in North America; its petals turn orange with age or on drying. The short, recurved thorns and bitter, oblate-orbiculate, black fruit also are distinctive and help to distinguish C. brachyacantha from C. saligna of Colorado and Utah (ser. Cerrones), which is similar in foliage and flower. The names blueberry haw and pomette bleue may have a special appropriateness about late August when the waxy covering of the fruit is still thick and the underlying color is a dark purple. At maturity, the flesh is thin and bitter and the skin usually black. The fall foliage, brilliant lustrous orange, bronze, and red, suggests potential ornamental use. Forma leucocarpa Sargent is a white-fruited form, which was collected by E. J. Palmer at Natchitoches, Louisiana, September 1915; it is the only recorded white-fruited hawthorn. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Crataegus gattingeri extends from Missouri to Pennsylvania south to Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia; it should be sought in southern Illinois and Indiana. Crataegus gattingeri is similar to the variably hairy C. pruinosa var. virella, which has normal-sized anthers. Considerable similarity occurs between C. compacta and C. gattingeri; both may have stipitate-glandular bracteoles, the leaves and flowers are about the same size, and the thorn and twig colors are similar. In the latter species a greater range of leaf shape occurs, from narrowly ovate to practically deltate, and bases rounded to broadly cuneate. The lobes and apices of the leaves of C. gattingeri are usually much sharper. Crataegus gattingeri is also superficially similar to small-leaved forms of ser. Tenuifoliae such as C. iracunda, which also usually has particularly small leaves at anthesis. It differs from the latter primarily in its 20 stamens, small anthers, much less hairy adaxial leaf surfaces at anthesis, and more glandular-bracteolate inflorescences. These two may be difficult to differentiate in fruit. The author has not come across C. gattingeri var. rigida E. J. Palmer, from Indiana and Kentucky, which apparently differs from the widespread type variety in its stouter and flexuous twigs, stouter thorns, and smaller flowers. It would not seem to be part of C. gattingeri. Crataegus arcana Beadle represents a somewhat similar form of possible conspecificity. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 501. | FNA vol. 9, p. 573. |
Parent taxa | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Maleae > Crataegus > sect. Brevispinae > ser. Brevispinae | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Maleae > Crataegus > sect. Coccineae > ser. Pruinosae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. bona, C. callida, C. georgiana, C. pruinosa var. gattingeri, C. rustica | |
Name authority | Sargent & Engelmann: Bot. Gaz. 7: 128. (1882) | Ashe: J. Elisha Mitchell Sci. Soc. 17: 12. (1900) |
Web links |