Crataegus brachyacantha |
Crataegus suborbiculata |
|
---|---|---|
blueberry haw, blueberry hawthorn, hoghaw, pomette bleue |
caughuawaga 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 tan, 2-years old light gray; thorns on twigs straight, 2-years old blackish, usually shiny, ± slender, 2.5–4.5 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 50–100% blade, eglandular or with 1–2(–3) glands; blade broadly elliptic or rhombic to suborbiculate, 4–6 cm, thin, base cuneate to broadly cuneate, lobes 3 or 4 per side, sinuses shallow, lobe apex acute, margins serrate, eglandular, veins 5 or 6 per side, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces glabrous, adaxial sparsely hairy young. |
Inflorescences | 15–25-flowered; branches glabrous; bracteoles caducous, narrow, small, membranous, margins eglandular, nearly glabrous. |
5–10-flowered; branches glabrous; bracteoles sometimes absent, margins 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. |
20–24 mm diam.; sepals narrowly triangular, 5–6 mm, margins subentire, abaxially glabrous; stamens 20, anthers cream, pink, or red, 0.7 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. |
pink mauve, ripening to orange-red or purplish, 10–14 mm diam., pruinose at first; sepals not on collar, spreading; pyrenes 3 or 4. |
2n | = 34, 51. |
= 68. |
Crataegus brachyacantha |
Crataegus suborbiculata |
|
Phenology | Flowering Apr; fruiting Sep–Nov. | Flowering May–Jun; fruiting Sep–Oct. |
Habitat | Wet prairies, alluvial flats, well-drained mesic sites, woodland margins | Woodland margins, brush |
Elevation | 10–200 m (0–700 ft) | 50–300 m (200–1000 ft) |
Distribution |
AR; GA; LA; MS; OK; TX
|
CT; MI; NY; ON; QC |
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.) |
Of conservation concern. Crataegus suborbiculata is uncommon but is found in a number of locations in southern Ontario, and extends east to Quebec, New York, and Connecticut, and west to Michigan. Fruiting specimens, seemingly of this species but in poor condition, have been collected along the Skyline Drive of Virginia. Very rare forms with slight inflorescence pilosity may occur and then Crataegus suborbiculata may look very much like some forms of C. florifera (ser. Anomalae), which is distinguished by its pyrenes. One large Ontario population is rather similar to C. compacta except that it is larger in all its parts and has proportionately slightly wider leaves. Very rare forms with narrower leaves (elliptic-rhombic) and small anthers may be referred to C. nitidula Sargent, known from southern Ontario, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Forms named C. umbratilis Sargent from Connecticut and Pennsylvania have slightly larger, more venous leaves with larger marginal teeth than the above and an elevated calyx in fruit. The poorly understood C. durobrivensis Sargent was suggested by E. J. Palmer (1952) to be a hybrid with C. pruinosa. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 501. | FNA vol. 9, p. 574. |
Parent taxa | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Maleae > Crataegus > sect. Brevispinae > ser. Brevispinae | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Maleae > Crataegus > sect. Coccineae > ser. Pruinosae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Sargent & Engelmann: Bot. Gaz. 7: 128. (1882) | Sargent: Rhodora 3: 72. (1901) |
Web links |