Crataegus pruinosa |
Crataegus aestivalis |
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frosted hawthorn, waxyfruit hawthorn |
eastern mayhaw, May hawthorn |
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Habit | Shrubs or trees, dense, often suberect, 20–70 dm. | Shrubs or trees, 30–120 dm. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | compound thorns on trunks present; twigs: new growth reddish brown, 1-year old dull purple-brown, 2-years old dull gray, older paler; thorns on twigs straight to slightly recurved, 2-years old deep purple to shiny black, usually ± fine, 3–5 cm. |
twigs: new growth reddish, glabrous, 1-year old dark brown (in late summer); thorns on twigs 1-year old dark, ± shiny, older grayish, 2–4 cm. |
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Leaves | petiole length 50–66% blade, sparsely glandular; blade trullate to ovate, ovate-oblong, or broadly rhombic, rarely ± deltate, 2–6(–7) cm, subcoriaceous, base broadly cuneate to subtruncate to weakly subcordate, lobes (1–)3 or 4 per side, sinuses shallow to deeper, lobe apex acute, sometimes ± obtuse, margins serrate, veins 5 or 6 per side (except smaller leaves), apex acute, surfaces glabrous (except var. virella). |
stipules broadly circinate, margins glandular; petiole 3–8 mm, length 10–16% blade, winged distally; blade ± dark green, elliptic to oblanceolate or narrowly so, 3–5 cm (sometimes much larger on extension shoots, then sometimes few-lobed, sometimes deeply so, even almost tripartite), lobes 0, margins entire proximally, serrulate to crenate in distal 1/2, usually eglandular, teeth tips sometimes with black glands, veins 4 or 5 per side, apex acute to subobtuse, abaxial surface glabrous except for tufts of usually pale gray (sometimes ± rufous) hair in lateral vein axils, sometimes also along midvein, adaxial ± shiny, scabrous or glabrous. |
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Inflorescences | 5–10-flowered; branches glabrous, sometimes sparsely villous; bracteoles caducous, usually few, margins short-stipitate-glandular. |
2–4-flowered umbels; branches glabrous or sparsely long-pilose; bracteoles narrow, margins sessile-glandular. |
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Flowers | 15–25 mm diam.; sepals narrowly triangular, 5–6 mm, margins usually entire or subentire, rarely glandular-serrate, abaxially glabrous; stamens (10 or)20, anthers pale pink to bright rose or dull purple, sometimes cream, 0.6–0.8 mm; styles 3–5. |
12–30 mm diam.; hypanthium glabrous; sepal margins ± entire, glabrous; anthers pink; styles 4 or 5. |
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Pomes | greenish with pink or mauve areas, sometimes bright crimson or scarlet, often rather angular, 10–20 mm diam., highly pruinose, not punctate; flesh hard; sepals on collar, spreading; pyrenes 3–5. |
red, sometimes yellow, 8–20 mm diam., shiny; flesh edible; sepals obtuse; pyrenes 4 or 5. |
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Crataegus pruinosa |
Crataegus aestivalis |
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Phenology | Flowering Feb–Mar (later northward); fruiting May–Jul. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Seasonally inundated depressions, ditches, sink holes, streamsides | |||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 10–100 m (0–300 ft) | |||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
AR; CT; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; ME; MI; MO; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; ON; QC
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AL; FL; GA; MS; NC; SC
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Discussion | Varieties 6 (6 in the flora). Crataegus pruinosa extends from Arkansas to Wisconsin, through the southern Great Lakes to southern New England, and, in the south, mainly in the Appalachians to northern Georgia. In the north of its range, Crataegus pruinosa is mainly a shrub of open successional habitats but in the south may commonly be a taller tree of open or thin woodlands. Many hawthorns have a little waxy bloom on their pomes; it is particularly prominent on Crataegus pruinosa and C. cognata compared to others. Some authors include in C. pruinosa their white-anthered counterparts, here assigned to C. cognata. Whereas C. pruinosa characteristically has entire or subentire sepal margins, some forms in the southwest of the range of the species (for example, C. calliantha Sargent, C. seducta Sargent) may have glandular-serrate sepal margins. They may represent introgression with C. coccinioides. The varieties of C. pruinosa are weakly differentiated from each other, most of them on leaf shape and size characters. The more widespread varieties constitute a range of morphotypes held together by common traits. Crataegus gaudens Sargent is a strikingly distinct form from Pennsylvania that has more or less elliptic leaves with lobes absent; it is clearly related to C. pruinosa. Note that 159. Crataegus ×coleae, a Michigan endemic, will key out here if its laterally scarred pyrenes are missed. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Crataegus aestivalis is common in northern Florida and southern Georgia and continues up the coastal plain to New Bern, North Carolina, and west to Mississippi; it is scarce in the northern portion of its range. Crataegus aestivalis is variable in flower and fruit size. Crataegus maloides has unusually large, and C. luculenta unusually small, flowers; C. cerasoides has large, late-ripening fruit. Crataegus fruticosa is distinguished by late anthesis, at nearly full leaf expansion, and could be mistaken for a form of C. crus-galli. Crataegus monantha is a dwarf form from northern Florida and might prove useful as a dwarfing stock for the mayhaw industry. Crataegus aestivalis is widely used in the southern states for conserves. The description of Crataegus aestivalis by Torrey and Gray, together with the distribution they ascribed to it, indicates that they included C. opaca. The type of C. elliptica Pursh (reputedly at BM or OXF) has not been located and that of C. lucida Elliott (at CHARL) has not been accessed; these two names may belong here. C. S. Sargent (1920) thoroughly discussed the typification of C. aestivalis, suggesting that C. elliptica and C. lucida represent the same species. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 574. | FNA vol. 9, p. 547. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Maleae > Crataegus > sect. Coccineae > ser. Pruinosae | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Maleae > Crataegus > sect. Coccineae > ser. Aestivales | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | Mespilus pruinosa | Mespilus aestivalis, C. cerasoides, C. fruticosa, C. luculenta, C. maloides, C. monantha | ||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | (H. L. Wendland) K. Koch: Hort. Dendrol., 168. (1853) | (Walter) Torrey & A. Gray: Fl. N. Amer. 1: 468. (1840) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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