Crataegus mira
Biltmore Bot. Stud. 1: 78. 1902.
Shrubs, 20–30 dm. Stems: twigs ± flexuous, new growth olive green, pubescent, 1-year old reddish brown, pubescent, older dark gray-brown, glabrous; thorns on twigs straight or recurved, 2-years old dark gray-brown, slender, 3–4 cm. Leaves: petiole length 15–25% blade, winged distally, pubescent, sessile-glandular; blade broadly rhombic-elliptic to ± suborbiculate (at least some, usually), 2–3.5 cm, ± coriaceous, base attenuate, lobes 1–3 per side, more prominent young (anthesis), small, neat, and regular, sinuses shallow, lobe apex ± acute, margins crenate-serrate to serrate, teeth gland-tipped (prominent young), veins 3 or 4 per side, apex acute, abaxial surface glabrous, adaxial pilose young, glabrescent. Inflorescences 3–6-flowered; branches glabrous or ± pilose; bracteoles caducous, linear, margins usually stipitate-glandular. Flowers 20–25 mm diam.; hypanthium sparsely pilose or glabrous; sepals narrowly triangular, 5 mm, margins glandular-serrate, midvein sometimes prominent, abaxially sparsely pubescent; stamens 10 or 20, anthers cream or purple; styles 4 or 5. Pomes red or reddish orange, suborbicular, 9–15 mm diam., sparsely hairy; sepals patent-reflexed; pyrenes 4 or 5.
Phenology: Flowering Apr; fruiting Sep–Oct.
Habitat: Open brush
Elevation: 20–200 m
Distribution
Ala., Fla., Ga., Miss., N.C., S.C.
Discussion
The main range of Crataegus mira is the Florida panhandle to central Georgia, but it extends to the Carolinas and Alabama; the species is locally common.
Crataegus mira is most similar to C. aprica, C. sororia, and especially C. leonensis, but differs from them in its wider and often larger leaves, thinner inflorescence indumentum (than C. sororia), and larger flower size. The illustration depicts an unusually formed sessile-glandular bracteole.
Selected References
None.