Flora of North America species comparison

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.)

Varieties 6 (6 in the flora).

Crataegus viridis ranges from southeastern Texas along the coastal plain and piedmont to central Florida and to tidewater Maryland; inland, it extends to near St. Louis, Missouri, and the Tennessee-Kentucky border. The species favors streamsides and moist, fertile, alluvial woodlands or agricultural derivatives of these.

Crataegus viridis is variable in leaf shape and size. The varieties intergrade somewhat and most are sympatric; they are valuable for recognizing variation. Varieties glabriuscula and velutina are regional.

Beyond the recognized varieties, sporadic forms exist with yellow or gold fruit or anthocyanic anthers. Crataegus arborescens Elliott from northern Florida is similar to C. viridis but has rose-purple anthers and slightly hairy inflorescence branches. Other local forms with red or pink anthers, such as C. antimina Sargent, C. enucleata Sargent, and C. pechiana Sargent, are found. Selected forms with bright, rather deep green foliage, and heavy crops of red fruit, for example, cultivar Winter King, are ornamentals.

Rare putative interserial hybrids exist with ser. Crus-galli (for example, Crataegus ×permixta E. J. Palmer), ser. Molles (for example, C. ×anamesa Sargent, C. ×poliophylla Sargent, C. ×stenosepala Sargent), and ser. Punctatae (J. B. Phipps 2005).

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