Flora of North America species comparison

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 punctata is a common northeastern North American hawthorn, ranging across the northeast quarter of the United States and adjacent Canada to New Brunswick, to North Carolina and Tennessee, occurring mainly above 1000 m in the southern Appalachians. South of New Jersey, it is not found near the coast. The species may occur in nearly pure populations of up to several thousand individuals. The best growth is in sunny sites near streams.

Crataegus punctata is recognized among sympatric species by its matte green leaves (unlike the somewhat similar C. crus-galli) with impressed veins, tabulate branching when grown in the open, usually burgundy fruits with pale dots; the whitish or ashy gray twigs present a distinctive feature in winter (J. B. Phipps et al. 2003, plate 55), responsible for the common name white haw. The similar C. collina, with an allopatric distribution and much earlier flowering season, is often confused with it but is readily differentiated (see key and discussion for that species). Extension-shoot leaves of C. punctata may be very deeply incised with veins to the sinuses, a characteristic not found in C. collina.

Some forms of Crataegus punctata bear scarlet or yellow (var. aurea Aiton) fruit. Hairier forms, especially hairier leaves, have been named var. canescens Britton; very small-leaved forms have been called var. microphylla Sargent. Nearly glabrous forms, all with somewhat glossy foliage, less coarse leaf toothing than C. punctata, and ten stamens, occur sporadically and have been named C. grandis Ashe and var. pausiaca (Ashe) E. J. Palmer. They are probably hybrids with C. crus-galli, as is the similar C. ×disperma, treated under interserial hybrids. The very rare C. ×puberis Sargent is perhaps a hybrid with C. macrosperma, C. ×kellermanii Sargent a hybrid with C. pruinosa, and C. ×neobaxteri Sargent a hybrid with a species of ser. Rotundifoliae.

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