Parsley-Leaved Thorn 



473 



paler beneath, firm; leaf-stalks smooth, 1.5 to 5 cm. long. The flowers, about 10 

 mm. wide, are in smooth many- flowered cor}^mbs; calyx-lobes triangular, haiiT 

 on the margin; stamens about 20; anthers pink; styles 4 or 5. The fruit, ripen- 

 ing late in September, is depressed-globose, 4 to 6 mm, thick, scarlet; flesh thin 

 and firm; it contains 4 or 5, commonly 5, nutlets, 3 to 4 mm. long, with a con- 

 spicuous calyx scar, shallow sinus, smooth back, the nest 3.5 to 5.5 mm. thick. 



38. MAY HAW Crataegus aestivalis (Walter) Torrey and Gray 



Mespiliis cBStivalis Walter 



The May haw occurs in shallow ponds in the pinelands, and on low banks 

 of streams from South Carolina to northern Florida and west to southern Arkan- 

 sas and the Sabine River, Texas. It is also 

 called Apple haw. It is a tree from 5 to 

 9 meters high, or a large shrub with several 

 stems, with a close round-topped crown; 

 the bark is dark reddish brown, scaly; 

 the twigs are reddish, hairy, becoming 

 smoother, and are sometimes armed with 

 reddish spines from 3 to 4 cm. long. 



The leaves are oblanceolate to oval, 

 from 2 to 7 cm. long, and from 1.5 to 4 cm. 

 wide, pointed or broadly pointed at the 

 apex, markedly wedge-shaped at the base, 

 crenate, doubly crenate-toothed, cut or 

 often lobed, often irregularly so; young 

 leaves densely rusty woolly-hairy beneath, less so above; mature leaves becom- 

 ing rough above, dark green, half-leathery; leaf-stalks about i cm. long, rusty 

 woolly-hairy. The flowers are about 25 mm, wide, in 2- to 5-flowered simple 

 glabrous corymbs, and appear with the leaves in February and March ; the calyx- 

 lobes are ovate, long- pointed, remotely glandular-toothed; stamens about 20; 

 anthers purple; styles 3 to 5. The fruit, ripening in May, is depressed-globose, 

 red, dotted, 12 to 15 mm, thick, its calyx spreading; flesh thick, juicy, subacid; 

 it contains 3 to 5 nutlets, 4 to 7 mm, long, the nest 6 to 9 mm. thick; the nut- 

 lets are slightly ridged on the back, with a deep sinus between them. The fruit 

 is used largely for preserves and jellies. 



Fig. 428. May Haw. 



39. PARSLEY-LEAVED THORN Crataegus Marshallii Eggleston 



Mespilus apiijolia Marshall. Cratcegtis apiifolia Michaux, not Medicus 



This species grows along streams and borders of swamps from Virginia to 

 Florida westward to Missouri and Texas, It is a shrub or a small tree 2 to 6 meters 

 high, with nearly horizontal branches, forming a wide irregular top; the bark is 



