Nashville Thorn 



469 



calyx-lobes erect, persistent; flesh thick, yellow, acid, often quite edible; it contains 

 3 to 5 nutlets 7 to 9 mm. long, grooved and ridged on the back, the nest 7 to 9 

 mm. thick. 



This species is quite variable; the typical form has about ten stamens. C. 

 lobtdata Sargent is a form with more deeply cut leaves; C. polita Sargent, a 

 smoother, and C. exclusa Sargent, a more hair}^ form; C. neo-londonensis Sargent, 

 and C. Hillii Sargent, are twenty stamened forms with rougher leaves. 



32. BUCKLEY'S THORN - Crataegus texana Buckley 



Buckley's thorn occurs in the rich bottom lands of central and western Texas. 

 It is a tree sometimes 10 meters high, with ascending branches forming a broad 

 round-topped crown; the bark is scaly; the twigs are hairy, becoming smooth, dull 

 reddish brown, and bear occasional chestnut-brown spines about 5 cm. long. 



The leaves are broadly ovate, 5 to 

 10 cm. long, 3 to 8 cm. broad, pointed 

 or rounded at the apex, wedge-shaped 

 at the base, doubly toothed, sometimes 

 slightly lobcd and the base square cut, 

 hairy when young, becoming dark green 

 and smooth above, paler beneath ; leaf- 

 stalks slightly hair}^, winged above, i 

 to 3 cm. long. The flowers are about 

 2 cm. wide, in many-flowered woolly- 

 hairy corymbs; calyx- tube and ovate 

 long-pointed lobes densely wooUy- 

 hairy, lobes sharply glandular-toothed ; 

 stamens about 20; anthers dark pink; ^'^- 422. -Buckley's Thom. 



styles about 5. The fruit ripens about the last of October; it is short-oblong to 

 pear-shaped, 12 to 18 mm. thick, bright scarlet, hairy; calyx-lobes erect; flesh soft 

 and thick, yellow, sweet and edible; it contains 5 nutlets 7 to 9 mm. long, ridged 

 on the back, the nest of nutlets 8 to 10 mm. thick. 



2,Z- NASHVILLE THORN Crataegus gravida Beadle 



Limestone hills about Nashville, Tennessee, are the home of this thom. It is 

 a tree sometimes 6 meters high, with wide-spreading branches, forming a broad 

 round-topped crown; the bark is dark brown, scaly; the twigs arc orange-red, 

 woolly-hairy at first, becoming smooth, and are armed with straight chestnut- 

 brown spines 3 to 6 cm. long. 



The leaves are broadly ovate, pointed at the apex, abruptly wedge-shaped or 

 truncate at the base, doubly toothed, with 4 or 5 pairs of low lobes, short-hairy 

 on the upper surface when young, becoming nearly smooth, woolly-hairy particu- 



