s 



CRATAEGUS IN MISSOURI, 



BY CHA 



SPRAGUE SARGENT 



^ P 



m 



\ 



In this paper an attempt is made to record 



in forma 



tion in regard to the Missouri species of Crataegus which 



has been brought toget 

 also included descript 



le last eight years. In it are 

 several of the species which 



occur on the bottoms of the Mississippi River in Illinois op- 

 posite St- Louis as these 

 Louis flora. This, how( 



seem naturallv to belon 



preliminary study of the 

 systematically observed a 

 in Missouri, and there are 



considered merely a 

 Crataegus has been 



collected 

 11 many 



that part of the state north of the Missouri River, in which 

 there is every reason to believe that the genus abounds and 

 in w^hich no collections have been made. The existence, too^ 

 of several undcscribed Missouri species is indicated bv in- 



material 



of the Arnold 



Arboretum and of the Missouri Botanical Garden 



¥ 4 



determined 



described 



in this p 



only five 



and 



and 



the state, although no doubt 



ixtend beyond the borders of 

 some of the southern species 

 will be found in northern Arkansas where Crataegus has 

 been very little investigated. 



An examination of the groups into which the Missouri 

 species fall naturally throws some light on the distribution 

 of these groups and shows what a barrier the wide bottom- 

 lands of the Mississippi have been in the spread westward of 



several of them. 

 The Crus-galU Group, with thirty-seven endemic species, is 



the largest of the Missouri groups. Plants of this group are 

 very abundant in the southern part of the state, in Arkan- 

 sas, western Louisiana and eastern Texas, where they some- 



a large size. Rare in the northeastern part 



times grow to 



(35) 



