ROSACE.E 



445 



nearly fully grown when the flowers open early in May, and at maturity thick and coria- 

 ceous, dark green and very lustrous on the upper surface, pale and dull on the lower sur- 

 face, 2'-3' long, and l'-l|' wide, with a prominent midrib usually red on the lower side, and 

 few thin prominent primary veins generally extending to the point of the lobes; turning in 

 the autumn rich orange color through shades of bronze and orange-red; petioles stout, gland- 

 ular, villose while young on the upper side, soon becoming glabrous, i'-f in length; leaves 

 at the end of vigorous shoots more deeply lobed and frequently 5' long and 2^' wide. Flow- 

 ers -' in diameter, on long slender pedicels, in broad compound many-flowered glabrous 

 corymbs; calyx-tube narrowly obconic, glabrous, the lobes slender, elongated, acuminate, 

 entire or sparingly glandular-serrate; stamens 15-20; anthers pale yellow; styles 2-5. 

 Fruit ripening at the end of October, on slender elongated pedicels, in many-fruited droop- 

 ing clusters, short -oblong, full and rounded at the ends, pruinose with a glaucous bloom, 

 marked by small dark dots, '-f long, and about f in diameter; calyx only slightly en- 

 larged, the lobes dark red at the base on the upper side, usually erect, often deciduous be- 

 fore the fruit ripens; nutlets 2-5, rounded and ridged on the back with a broad low rounded 

 ridge, light-colored, |' long. 



A tree, often 30 high, with a tall straight trunk sometimes 18' in diameter, covered with 

 close dark bark broken into thick plate-like scales, stout spreading lower branches and 

 erect upper branches forming a broad often irregular head, and slender glabrous branchlets 

 bright orange-brown and lustrous during their first and second seasons, becoming pale 

 reddish brown in their third year, and ultimately ashy gray, and unarmed or armed with 

 occasional straight thin bright chestnut-brown lustrous spines I'-l^' long. 



Distribution. Bottoms of the Mississippi River, St. Clair County, Illinois; common. 



49. Crataegus mitis Sarg. 



Leaves obovate to oval or rhombic, acute or rarely rounded at apex, gradually narrowed 

 and concave-cuneate at the entire base, and coarsely serrate above wdth straight glandular 

 teeth, nearly fully grown when the flowers open during the first week of May, and then 

 light yellow-green above, paler below, and glabrous with the exception of a few short hairs 

 on the upper side of the midrib, and at maturity subcoriaceous, dark green and lustrous on 

 the upper surface, pale yellow-green on the lower surface, \\'-^>\' long, and I'-l \' wide, with 



Fig. 401 



a prominent midrib and slender primary veins; petioles stout, wing-margined at apex, occa- 

 sionally glandular with minute glands, \\'-\\' in length. Flowers \'-\' in diameter, on 

 long slender pedicels, Y compact 8-15-flowered glabrous corymbs, w r ith red glandular bracts 



