Crataegus iracunda
Crataegus intricata
forest hawthorn, passionate hawthorn, stolonbearing hawthorn
Biltmore hawthorn, Copenhagen hawthorn, entangle hawthorn, intricate hawthorn
twigs: new growth greenish, glabrous, 1-year old deep reddish brown, 2-years old grayer;
thorns on twigs 2-years old blackish or dark gray, shiny, slender, 2.5–4 cm.
twigs: new growth reddish, glabrous, 1–2-years old dark reddish black, older grayer;
thorns on twigs absent or frequent, straight to recurved, 2-years old blackish, slender, 2.5–5 cm.
petiole length 40–50% blade, eglandular;
blade ovate to ovate-deltate, 2–4(–5) cm, 1.2–1.4 times as long as wide, 40–60% mature size at anthesis, base broadly rounded to subtruncate or subcordate, lobes 4 per side, sinuses moderately shallow, lobe apex ca. 90 at tip, often less, margins serrate, teeth regular, 0.5–1 mm, with minute, caducous gland-tipped, veins 3 or 4(or 5) per side, apex acute, abaxial surface glabrous except along veins, adaxial finely appressed-pubescent young.
petiole 1 mm wide, length 40–50% blade, usually glabrous, sometimes hairy, glandular;
blade broadly elliptic to broadly ovate or oblong, 4–8(–9) cm, base broadly cuneate to ± rounded, lobes 3–5 per side, sinuses ± shallow to moderately deep, angled to rounded, lobe apex acute to acuminate, often reflexed, margins ± serrate, teeth gland-tipped at least young, veins 4–6 per side, apex acute, surfaces glabrous.
4–10-flowered;
branches glabrous;
bracteoles few, ± linear.
3–8-flowered;
branches glabrous;
bracteoles membranous to nearly herbaceous, margins short-stipitate-glandular.
12–15 mm diam.;
hypanthium glabrous;
sepals 4–5 mm, margins ± entire or slightly glandular-serrate, abaxially glabrous;
stamens 10, anthers pink to purple;
styles 3–5.
16–20 mm diam.;
hypanthium glabrous;
sepals 6 mm, margins glandular-serrate;
stamens 10, anthers ivory or cream;
styles 3–5.
orange to red, or blotched green, suborbicular, 8–10 mm diam.;
sepals spreading;
pyrenes 3–5, dorsally grooved.
dull yellow to orange or russet, sometimes green mature, orbicular to ± pyriform, 8–13 mm diam., glabrous;
sepals on collar, patent-reflexed;
pyrenes 3–5.
= 51.
Crataegus iracunda
Crataegus intricata
Crataegus iracunda ranges from Louisiana to South Carolina and Georgia, and to Virginia, but only at low altitudes. Nearly all records of C. iracunda north of the listed distribution are referable to C. macrosperma or to various species in ser. Populneae.
The distinguishing features of Crataegus iracunda are most evident when it is in flower. The species can be construed as a smaller, more southern, allopatric relative of C. macrosperma distinguished by smaller leaves (particularly at anthesis), more slender thorns, and harder, drier pomes. Its distribution is almost wholly to the south of or in Appalachia, at lower elevations than C. macrosperma. The nearest records of C. macrosperma to the Louisiana populations of C. iracunda are from the Arkansas Ozarks.
Crataegus iracunda has been confused with C. gattingeri (ser. Pruinosae) but is readily distinguished in flower by adaxial leaf pubescence, stamen number, and by lacking the usually attenuate terminal leaf lobes of the latter. However, in fruit, unless the filament bases can be counted, one is left with the less reliable feature of the terminal lobe shape. Confusion with the larger-leaved C. populnea (ser. Populneae) is perhaps possible, but the two species are essentially allopatric and their leaves differ markedly in size and texture.
Earlier attempts to segregate varieties based on leaf size are not taken up here but may have merit as the relatively numerous Louisiana (Crataegus drymophila) form has much smaller leaves than North Carolina specimens.
Variety brumalis (Ashe) Kruschke (Crataegus brumalis Ashe) with syntype material from near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a different entity. Compared to C. iracunda, it has larger and differently shaped (often more or less truncate-based) leaves, proportionately larger at anthesis, and adaxially subglabrous, conspicuously glandular petioles, and larger flowers. This taxon (as a variety of C. iracunda) is primarily responsible for the northwards extension of the range of the latter species. In fact, north of the Mason-Dixon line, most of the specimens attributed to C. brumalis seen by the author appear to be forms of C. macrosperma.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Crataegus intricata ranges in Appalachia from southern New England to Georgia and Alabama. The distribution given above, relative to similar taxa, may be somewhat over-represented because the species has been the default identification for doubtful (particularly fruiting) material of much ser. Intricatae with glabrous leaves and inflorescences.
Crataegus intricata is the common, widespread member of this series with lobed leaves, ten stamens, white or cream anthers, and glabrous inflorescences. Depth and sharpness of lobes and location of widest part of leaf are somewhat variable, as is plant stature, some forms appearing mature at 1–2 m.
W. W. Eggleston collected a distinctive form in the Crataegus intricata complex in September 1908 from North Carolina, in which the short-shoot leaves are broadly ovate to deltate with shallow obtuse lobes. This has a printed label naming it C. virgata Ashe. Though type material of C. virgata could not be located, the protologue by Ashe could fit. It is possible that all the southeastern forms from the intricata complex with shallow and obtuse lobes, proportionately wide leaves, and cream anthers represent C. virgata.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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