ROSACEA. 
SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 
39 
CRATAGUS CRUS-GALLI, var. PYRACANTHIFOLIA. 
Cockspur Thorn. 
STAMENS 10; anthers rose color. 
rounded at the apex. 
Cratzgus Crus-galli, 8 pyracanthifolia, Aiton, Hort. 
Kew. ii. 170 (1789). — De Candolle, Prodr. ii. 626. — 
Torrey & Gray, Fl. N. Am. i. 464. — Loudon, Ard. Brit. 
ii. 820, f. 580. — Regel, Act. Hort. Petrop. i. 109 (in 
Leaves narrowly obovate, acute or sometimes 
part). — Sargent, Forest Trees N. Am. 10th Census U. S. 
ix. 76; Silva N. Am. iv. 92. 
Mespilus Crus-galli, var. pyracanthifolia, Hayne, Dendr. 
Fil. 80 (1882). 
This form of the Cockspur Thorn, which has been known in European gardens for more than a 
century, has recently been found in eastern Pennsylvania and in northern Delaware and appears to 
range southward to Florida and middle Tennessee. 
It has the ten stamens and rose-colored anthers of 
Crategus Crus-galh, but rather smaller flowers and smaller comparatively narrower and often bright 
red fruit. 
The leaves vary from elliptical to obovate and are acute or often rounded at the apex, and 
when young are sometimes slightly pubescent along the upper side of the midribs, a few hairs being also 
found occasionally on the young corymbs. Very distinct in its extreme forms, it appears to pass into 
the ordinary forms of Crategus Crus-galli, which is distinguished by its larger leaves, mostly rounded 
at the apex except on vigorous shoots, larger flowers, and larger and usually pruinose fruits, and with 
the present knowledge of this narrower-leaved form it is perhaps best considered a variety." 
1 The northeastern station of Crategus Crus-galli is near Mon- 
treal in Quebec, where it was first noticed by Mr. J. G. Jack in 
August, 1892; it is rare in western Vermont (see Sargent, Rho- 
dora, iii. 19), and with the exception of a few stations in Connecti- 
cut (E. B. Harger, East Haven, 1887, and Oxford, 1900, E. H. 
Eames, Stratford, 1895, C. B. Graves, Waterford and Groton, 
1901) it is not known to grow naturally in other parts of New Eng- 
land. It grows probably naturally on the Shinnecock Hills and 
the shores of Peconic Bay, Long Island, where it was found in 1897 
by Miss A. M. Vail, and is very abundant westward to Illinois and 
West 
of the Missouri River, where there are a number of distinct species 
southward particularly in the Appalachian foothill region. 
of this group, Crategus Crus-galli either does not grow at all or 
varies constantly from the eastern tree in its yellow anthers. 
Another form of the Cockspur Thorn cultivated in Europe under 
the name of Crategus Crus-galli, var. salicifolia (Aiton, Hort. 
Kew. ii. 170), with thinner narrower and more elongated lanceolate 
or oblanceolate leaves, has not yet been found growing naturally in 
this country, and, like a number of other peculiar plants in this 
group known only in European and American gardens, it is perhaps 
the product of cultivation or hybridization. 
In the fourth volume of this work Crataegus berberifolia of Tor- 
rey & Gray of western Louisiana was considered a variety of Cra- 
tegus Crus-galli. It varies from that species in its twenty not ten 
stamens, in its thinner and less lustrous leaves, in the persistent 
pubescent or tomentose covering of the young branches, leaves, and 
calyx, and in its orange-colored red-cheeked fruit, and with the 
present idea of the limitation of species of Crategus it should be 
considered a species. 
