Flora of North America species comparison

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Crataegus chrysocarpa

Crataegus chrysocarpa var. vernonensis

aubépine dorée, Columbia hawthorn, fireberry hawthorn, goldenberry hawthorn, Piper's hawthorn
Photo is of parent taxon

fireberry hawthorn, vernon fireberry hawthorn
Habit Shrubs, 20–35 dm, sometimes clonal. Shrubs, 20–35 dm.
Stems

twigs: new growth usually appressed-pubescent, 1-year old usually dull yellowish to greenish brown or gray-brown to light or dark tan;

thorns on twigs variable, straight to slightly recurved, 1-year old shiny, dark mahogany or black, ± slender to ± stout, 3–6 cm.

Leaves

petiole length 50% blade, usually narrowly winged distally, pubescent, glandular young, often persisting;

blade yellow or purplish in very dry spots (fall), ± rhombic to rhombic-ovate, rhombic-obovate, or ovate to broadly elliptic, on extension shoots similar, larger, 2–5(–7.5) cm, thin to chartaceous, base ± cuneate, sometimes rounded to broadly ovate (at early anthesis not strikingly flabellate), lobes 2–4(–6) per side, sinuses moderately deep, lobe apex acute to subacute, margins serrate, teeth glands caducous, numerous, small, veins 3–5(–7) per side, apex acute or subacute, abaxial surface glabrous, sparsely pilose-glabrescent, or villous, veins usually pubescent, adaxial appressed-scabrous, glabrescent or short-appressed-pubescent.

blade ovate to rhombic-ovate, base ± cuneate, sinuses: max LII 10–15%, lobe apex subacute, veins 3 or 4 per side, abaxial surface glabrous, veins pilose, adaxial appressed-scabrous-pubescent, persistent.
Inflorescences

5–10-flowered, compact;

branches sparsely to densely villous, rarely glabrous;

bracteoles usually hyaline, linear, membranous, margins sessile- or short-stipitate-glandular.

branches lanate.
Flowers

15–20 mm diam.;

hypanthium usually villous, sometimes glabrous;

sepals triangular, 4 mm, margins glandular-serrate, apex subacute to obtuse, abaxially pubescent;

stamens (5–)10(or 20), anthers cream or ivory, sometimes pink;

styles 3 or 4(or 5).

18–20 mm diam.;

hypanthium lanate proximally, glabrous distally;

stamens 8–10, anthers pale pink.
Pomes

scarlet to deep red, only darkened to burgundy if dried and shriveled (except in var. vernonensis), usually suborbicular to broadly ellipsoid or oblong, 8–10(–12) mm diam., pubescent or glabrous;

sepal remnants present, spreading to reflexed, not or rarely obscurely elevated;

pyrenes 3 or 4(or 5).

burgundy to nearly black, suborbicular, 10–12 mm diam., pubescent.
2n

= 68.

Crataegus chrysocarpa

Crataegus chrysocarpa var. vernonensis
Phenology Flowering May; fruiting late Aug.
Habitat Xeric habitats, sometimes sandy soil
Elevation 300–400 m (1000–1300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CO; CT; IA; ID; IL; MA; ME; MI; MN; MT; ND; NH; NY; OR; RI; SD; UT; VT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
BC
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 9 (9 in the flora).

Crataegus chrysocarpa is one of the most wide-ranging North American species of the genus, occurring from inland of the Cascades and Coastal Ranges of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia to the Atlantic from Newfoundland to New England; it is correspondingly variable. Ashe’s type from the Rocky Mountain foothills in northern Colorado is from the south of the range. East of the Rocky Mountains, C. chrysocarpa is the most northerly and cold-adapted species of hawthorn in North America and nearly reaches Hudson Bay in Ontario. Rare northeastern forms are arborescent (to 70 dm).

Variety chrysocarpa is by far the most common form through most of the species range; numerous well-marked to only slightly different forms, many accepted here at varietal level, occur in different parts of the range. The main regional variant is var. piperi, a well-marked intermontane form.

One to two year old twigs of var. chrysocarpa are much darker in the east (reddish tan or darker) than in the west (light tan to gray-brown).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Of conservation concern.

Variety vernonensis is locally common in the northern Okanagan valley between Vernon and Salmon Arm. Because of its extreme habitat for a hawthorn and its early ripening, pomes are apt to shrivel by September, when pomes of other hawthorns in the area are usually still plump. Possibly that is why it is under-collected. For the same reason, the variety is seldom found growing among the larger, more mesomorphic sympatric hawthorns. The variety is among the earliest to flower of the hawthorns of its area.

Variety vernonensis is remarkably uniform in its diagnostic characteristics. The multi-stemmed, relatively little-branching, erect habit is conspicuous in well-developed plants, as are the lanate inflorescences, pale pink anthers, and pomes already ripe and burgundy in late August. These characters help to distinguish the taxon from other members of ser. Rotundifoliae, while the tendency to subacute lobes in the leaf helps to distinguish it in midsummer from rare lanate forms of sympatric var. chrysocarpa.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Stamens 20
→ 2
1. Stamens 5–10
→ 3
2. Anthers cream or ivory.
var. vigintistamina
2. Anthers pink.
var. blanchardii
3. Inflorescence branches lanate; anthers pale pink; fully ripe pomes burgundy.
var. vernonensis
3. Inflorescence branches glabrous or pubescent, sparsely to densely villous, or thin-pilose; anthers cream to ivory, sometimes pink; fully ripe pomes red
→ 4
4. Abaxial leaf surfaces persistently hairy (rough-pubescent or with scattered long hairs)
→ 5
4. Abaxial leaf surfaces glabrous, veins sometimes pilose
→ 6
5. Leaf blades ovate to broadly ovate or broadly elliptic, bases rounded to broadly cuneate, lobe apices subacute, max LII 5–10%, veins 6 or 7 per side; Great Lakes region and eastwards.
var. faxonii
5. Leaf blades rhombic to narrowly rhombic or rhombic-elliptic, bases ± cuneate, lobe apices acute, max LII 15–20%, veins 5 or 6 per side; Pacific Northwest and adjacent Canada.
var. piperi
6. Anthers pink.
var. praecox
6. Anthers cream or ivory
→ 7
7. Inflorescence branches glabrous; leaf surfaces: adaxial glabrous young.
var. phoeniceoides
7. Inflorescence branches sparsely to densely villous or thin-pilose; leaf surfaces: adaxial appressed-short-pubescent or appressed-pubescent young, glabrescent or becoming short scabrous
→ 8
8. Hypanthia densely villous.
var. chrysocarpa
8. Hypanthia glabrous.
var. subrotundifolia
Source FNA vol. 9, p. 597. FNA vol. 9, p. 599.
Parent taxa Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Maleae > Crataegus > sect. Coccineae > ser. Rotundifoliae Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Maleae > Crataegus > sect. Coccineae > ser. Rotundifoliae > Crataegus chrysocarpa
Sibling taxa
C. aemula, C. aestivalis, C. alabamensis, C. alleghaniensis, C. annosa, C. aprica, C. aquacervensis, C. ashei, C. atrovirens, C. attrita, C. austromontana, C. beata, C. berberifolia, C. biltmoreana, C. brachyacantha, C. brainerdii, C. brazoria, C. brittonii, C. buckleyi, C. calpodendron, C. castlegarensis, C. coccinea, C. coccinioides, C. cognata, C. collina, C. colonica, C. communis, C. compacta, C. condigna, C. craytonii, C. crocea, C. crus-galli, C. cupressocollina, C. delawarensis, C. dispar, C. dodgei, C. douglasii, C. egens, C. egregia, C. enderbyensis, C. erythropoda, C. exilis, C. eximia, C. extraria, C. fecunda, C. flabellata, C. flava, C. florens, C. floridana, C. florifera, C. fluviatilis, C. formosa, C. frugiferens, C. furtiva, C. gattingeri, C. gaylussacia, C. gilva, C. greggiana, C. harbisonii, C. holmesiana, C. ignava, C. incilis, C. integra, C. intricata, C. invicta, C. iracunda, C. irrasa, C. jesupii, C. jonesiae, C. lacrimata, C. laevigata, C. lanata, C. lancei, C. lanuginosa, C. lassa, C. laurentiana, C. leonensis, C. lepida, C. levis, C. lumaria, C. macracantha, C. macrosperma, C. magniflora, C. margarettae, C. marshallii, C. mendosa, C. meridiana, C. mira, C. mollis, C. monogyna, C. munda, C. nananixonii, C. neobushii, C. nitida, C. oakesiana, C. okanaganensis, C. okennonii, C. opaca, C. opima, C. orbicularis, C. ouachitensis, C. padifolia, C. pennsylvanica, C. persimilis, C. pexa, C. phaenopyrum, C. phippsii, C. pinetorum, C. populnea, C. prona, C. pruinosa, C. pulcherrima, C. punctata, C. purpurella, C. quaesita, C. reverchonii, C. rivularis, C. rivuloadamensis, C. rivulopugnensis, C. roribacca, C. rubella, C. rubribracteolata, C. saligna, C. sargentii, C. scabrida, C. schizophylla, C. schuettei, C. segnis, C. senta, C. sheila-phippsiae, C. sheridana, C. shuswapensis, C. sororia, C. spathulata, C. spes-aestatum, C. stolonifera, C. stonei, C. submollis, C. suborbiculata, C. succulenta, C. tecta, C. teres, C. texana, C. tracyi, C. triflora, C. turnerorum, C. uniflora, C. ursopedensis, C. venusta, C. viridis, C. visenda, C. wattiana, C. williamsii, C. wootoniana, C. ×atrorubens, C. ×bicknellii, C. ×coleae, C. ×collicola, C. ×disperma, C. ×dispessa, C. ×fretalis, C. ×incaedua, C. ×kelloggii, C. ×latebrosa, C. ×lucorum, C. ×rufula, C. ×sicca, C. ×vailiae
C. chrysocarpa var. blanchardii, C. chrysocarpa var. chrysocarpa, C. chrysocarpa var. faxonii, C. chrysocarpa var. phoeniceoides, C. chrysocarpa var. piperi, C. chrysocarpa var. praecox, C. chrysocarpa var. subrotundifolia, C. chrysocarpa var. vigintistamina
Subordinate taxa
C. chrysocarpa var. blanchardii, C. chrysocarpa var. chrysocarpa, C. chrysocarpa var. faxonii, C. chrysocarpa var. phoeniceoides, C. chrysocarpa var. piperi, C. chrysocarpa var. praecox, C. chrysocarpa var. subrotundifolia, C. chrysocarpa var. vernonensis, C. chrysocarpa var. vigintistamina
Synonyms C. columbiana var. chrysocarpa, C. rotundifolia var. chrysocarpa
Name authority Ashe: Bull. North Carolina Agric. Exp. Sta. 175: 110. (1900) J. B. Phipps & O’Kennon: Sida 21: 73, fig. 3. (2004)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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