460 



The Thorn Trees 



ward to western New York and southern Missouri. It is a shrub i to 3 meters 

 high in the North, but often a tree 6 meters high in the South, with ascending, 



unequal branches; the bark is dark 

 grayish brown, commonly smooth; 

 the twigs are reddish brown, smooth, 

 and are armed with an occasional 

 straight chestnut-brown spine 3 to 6 

 cm. long. 



The leaves are elliptic-ovate, 2.5 

 to 7 cm. long, 2 to 5 cm. wide, 

 pointed or long-pointed at the apex, 

 wedge-shaped, often abruptly so, at 

 the base, thin, smooth, doubly toothed, 

 with erect teeth toward the apex, 

 commonly with three or four pairs of 

 pointed lobes, the lower lobes some- 

 times cut, the teeth gland-tipped; 

 leaf-stalks glandular, slightly winged 

 above, i to 3 cm. long. The flowers are about 2 cm. wide, in smooth, few- 

 flowered cor}^mbs; the lanceolate calyx-lobes are pointed, glandular- toothed, the 

 upper surface generally having a few hairs; stamens about 10; anthers light yel- 

 low. The fruit ripens late; it is depressed globose to pear-shaped, 10 to 15 mm. 

 thick, yellow-green to yellow-brown, flushed with red, the calyx-lobes spreading, 

 the flesh firm; it contains 3 or 4 nutlets 6 to 8 mm. long, strongly ridged on the 

 back, the nest of nutlets 7 to 9 mm. thick. 



Fig. 408. Boynton's Thorn. 



19. WAXY THORN Crataegus pruinosa (Wendland) K. Koch 



Mespilus pruinosa Wendland 



This species occurs in the Thou- 

 sand islands, thence southward through 

 western New England to the foothills 

 of the southern Appalachians and 

 westward to southern Wisconsin and 

 Missouri. It is a tree sometimes 6 

 meters high, with ascending branches 

 forming an irregular crown, or per- 

 haps more often a shrub with numer- 

 ous stems; the twigs are brown, be- 

 coming gray, smooth, and armed with 

 numerous slender chestnut-brown 

 spines 3 to 6 cm. long. 



The leaves are elliptic to broadly yig. 409. Waxy Thom. 



