Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Crataegus sect. Crataegus

Crataegus ser. Cordatae
Habit Shrubs or trees, 20–100[–120] dm.
Stems

trunks 1–few, ± erect, bark flattened-scaly or exfoliating;

compound thorns on trunks present or absent;

thorns on twigs determinate or indeterminate, straight or slightly curved, ± slender unless very short.

Leaves

blade ± ovate, 1.2–6 cm, ± thin, lobes (0 or)1–4 per side, sinuses shallow or deep, veins 2–8 per side, to lobes and sinuses, sometimes glossy.

Inflorescences

branches glabrous or pubescent;

symmetric bracteoles present, basal stipuliform, falcate bracteoles absent.

Flowers

post-mature petals pale paper brown;

stamens [10–]20, anthers ivory, pale yellow, pink to purple, or reddish.

Pomes

vermillion to red or orange-red [black];

pyrene sides plane or grooved.

Crataegus sect. Crataegus

Crataegus ser. Cordatae
Distribution
w Eurasia; n Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in South America (Argentina, Chile), s Africa, Pacific Islands (New Zealand), Australia]
Discussion

Species 28 (5 in the flora).

Four of the series recognized in sect. Crataegus are represented in the flora area.

Section Crataegus is extended here beyond ser. Crataegus to include three related North American series that have only determinate thorns and that have been suggested by E. Y. Y. Lo et al. (2009) to represent a separate subclade of hybrid origin.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Veins to all sinuses; styles and pyrenes 1–3
→ 2
1. Veins only to deeper sinuses; styles and pyrenes 3–5
→ 3
2. Pomes bright to dark red, 6–14 mm diam., ± orbicular to ± cylindric; inflorescence branches glabrous; thorns on twigs indeterminate (when appearing terminal on often leafy twigs), sometimes determinate (aphyllous and lateral); trunk bark flattened-scaly, exfoliating in elongate strips; pyrene sides grooved.
C. ser. Crataegus
2. Pomes bright, glossy red, 4–6 mm diam., ellipsoid to sometimes orbicular; inflorescence branches densely pubescent; thorns on twigs determinate; trunk bark smooth, thin, exfoliating in irregular flakes; pyrene sides plane.
C. ser. Apiifoliae
3. Trunk bark flattened-scaly in elongate strips; leaf blades 3–6 cm, broad.
C. ser. Cordatae
3. Trunk bark exfoliating with smooth, thin flakes; leaf blades 1.5–3 cm, narrow.
C. ser. Microcarpae
Source FNA vol. 9, p. 495.
Parent taxa Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Maleae > Crataegus
Subordinate taxa
C. ser. Apiifoliae, C. ser. Cordatae, C. ser. Crataegus, C. ser. Microcarpae
Name authority unknown
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).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers