Crataegus (sect. Crataegus) ser. Cordatae

Trees, 40–100 dm. Stems: trunk bark freshly exposed ± orange, older dark gray brown, flattened-scaly in elongate strips; compound thorns on trunks present; thorns on twigs determinate. Leaves: petiole length 40–60% blade; blade brilliantly bronze and purple in fall, glossy, ± deltate, broad, 3–6 cm, lobes palmate or 2 or 3(or 4) per side, sinuses deep, triangular, venation craspedodromous, veins to lobes and deeper sinuses. Inflorescences 15–30-flowered; branches glabrous; bracteoles caducous, linear, small, membranous, margins stipitate-glandular. Flowers 10–12 mm diam.; sepals broadly triangular; stamens 20, anthers ivory; styles 3(or 4). Pomes vermillion, ± orbicular, 5–8 mm diam., shiny; sepal remnants persistent or deciduous; pyrenes 3, dorsally grooved, sides plane.

Distribution

c, se United States, introduced elsewhere in the flora area.

Discussion

Species 1.

Series Cordatae occurs in a wide band from Missouri to North Carolina with outliers in all states southward except Alabama. Anthesis occurs last among sympatric hawthorns.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

Crataegus phaenopyrum