Crataegus brachyacantha |
Crataegus ×dispessa |
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blueberry haw, blueberry hawthorn, hoghaw, pomette bleue |
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Habit | Shrubs or trees, 60–100(–150) dm. | Trees, 55 dm. |
Stems | trunk bark dark gray-brown, plated; thorns on twigs absent or present, recurved, short, to 1.5 cm. |
twigs: new growth canescent, 1-year old dark brown, older gray; thorns on twigs absent or few, straight or slightly curved, 1-year old dark purple, 3 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. |
deciduous; petiole slender, length 33–43% blade, distally winged, densely pubescent, eglandular; blade elliptic to suborbiculate, 3–7 cm, base cuneate, lobes 0 or 1–3 per side, apiculi, margins sharply serrate, venation craspedodromous, veins 5 per side, sharply impressed, apex acute, surfaces glabrate, glabrescent, abaxial veins densely pubescent, adaxial appressed-pubescent young. |
Inflorescences | 15–25-flowered; branches glabrous; bracteoles caducous, narrow, small, membranous, margins eglandular, nearly glabrous. |
10–20-flowered; branches tomentose; bracteoles caducous, numerous, linear, ± membranous, 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. |
20–25 mm diam.; hypanthium canescent; sepals narrowly triangular, margins glandular-serrate to glandular-laciniate, abaxial surface densely pubescent; stamens 20, anthers cream, sometimes pink; styles 4 or 5. |
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. |
crimson, suborbicular, 12–17 mm diam., pubescent; sepals erose or patent; pyrenes 4 or 5, dorsally grooved, sides plane. |
2n | = 34, 51. |
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Crataegus brachyacantha |
Crataegus ×dispessa |
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Phenology | Flowering Apr; fruiting Sep–Nov. | Flowering May; fruiting Sep–Oct. |
Habitat | Wet prairies, alluvial flats, well-drained mesic sites, woodland margins | Brush, along streams and woodland margins |
Elevation | 10–200 m (0–700 ft) | 100–200 m (300–700 ft) |
Distribution |
AR; GA; LA; MS; OK; TX
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MO |
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 ×dispessa is found in southern Missouri to Boone County and was last collected in Dallas County. Crataegus ×dispessa is probably of ser. Molles × C. collina var. hirtiflora parentage, the bracteole type not being characteristic of ser. Molles. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 501. | FNA vol. 9, p. 638. |
Parent taxa | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Maleae > Crataegus > sect. Brevispinae > ser. Brevispinae | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Maleae > Crataegus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. pyriformis, C. treleasei | |
Name authority | Sargent & Engelmann: Bot. Gaz. 7: 128. (1882) | Crataegus ×dispessa Ashe: J. Elisha Mitchell Sci. Soc. 19: 17. (1903) — as species |
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