CRATAEGUS IN MISSOURI. 



71 



Thickets on dry rocky hills along Turkey Creek north of 



Joplin, Jasper County, E. J. Palmer, (No. 8 type) April 28 

 and October 13, 1907. 



Mr. Palmer notices that the disks of the flowers in this spe- 

 cies turn dark purple-red as the flowers fade, an unusual 

 change of color in this group, although it is common in plants 

 of the Molles and Flabellatae Groups. 



35. Crataegus rudis, n. sp. 



Glabrous with the exception of the hairs on the upper side of the young 



leaves. Leaves oblong-obovate, rounded or rarely acute at tlie apex, 

 gradually narrowed to the long slender cuneatc entire base, very slightly 

 serrate above the middle, with incurved glandular teeth, and thickened 

 and slightly rcvolute on the margins; nearly fully grown when the flowers 



+ 



open about the 10th of May and then yellow-green, smooth and lustrous 

 and slightly hairy along the midribs and veins above and paler below, and 

 at maturity thin, yellow-green, glabrous and lustrous on the upper surface, 

 pale bluish-green on the lower surface, 4-5 cm. long and 1.5-2 cm. wide, 

 with slender yellow midribs, and very thin primary veins; petioles slender, 

 narrow-wing-margincd to below the middle, 4-5 mm. in length; leaves on 

 vigorous shoots acute or rounded and short-pointed at the apex, more 

 coarsely serrate and often 5-7 cm. long and 3-4 cm. wide, with stout mid- 

 ribs and petioles, and more prominent primary veins. Flowers 1.3-1.5 

 cm. in diameter, on long slender pedicels, in small lax mostly 7- to 12- 

 flowered corymbs, the elongated lower peduncles from the axils of u})pcr 

 leaves; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, the lobes abruptly narrowed from 

 the base, long, slender, glandular and acuminate at the apex, entire or 

 minutely glandular-dentate below the middle, reflexed after an thesis; 

 stamens 10; anthers pale yellow; styles 1-3, surrounded at the base by 

 a narrow ring of pale tomentum. Fruit ripening and falling early in 

 October, on long slender drooping pedicels, in few-fruited clusters, oval 

 to subglobose, scarlet, slightly pruinose, marked by large dark dots, 

 1-1.2 cm. long, 9-10 mm. in diameter; calyx little enlarged, with a deep 

 narrow cavity, and small spreading usually deciduous lobes; flesh thin, 

 green, dry and hard; nutlets usually 1 or 2, gradually narrowed and 

 rounded at the ends, ridged on the back, with a broad low grooved ridge, 

 5-6 mm. long, and 4-4.5 mm. wide, or when 1, 5.5-6 mm in diameter. 



A tree 3-8 m. high, with a trunk 7.5-15 cm, in diameter, 

 covered with dark scaly bark, and stout nearly straight 

 branchlets light orange-green and marked by pale lenticels 

 when they first appear, becoming light orange-brown in their 

 first season and light gray and rather lustrous the follow- 

 ing year, and armed with very numerous stout or slender 



