462 



TREES OF NORTH AMERICA 



during the second week of May, and at maturity merabranaceous, glabrous, smooth, yel- 

 lowish to bluish green on the upper surface, pale on the lower surface, l^'-2' long, and l'-l j' 

 wide, with a slender midrib and 5 or 6 pairs of thin primary veins; turning yellowish and 

 brown or russet color in the autumn; petioles slender, glabrous, sparingly glandular with 

 minute glands, f '-!' in length; leaves at the end of vigorous shoots often 2|' long and 

 1|' wide. Flowers -|' in diameter, on slender pedicels, in broad glabrous 8-12-flowered 

 corymbs, with linear or oblong glandular bracts and bractlets; calyx narrowly obconic, gla- 

 brous, the lobes lanceolate, glandular-serrate, deeply tinged with purple; stamens 20; an- 

 thers pale rose color; styles 4 or 5. Fruit ripening early in September and soon falling, on 

 slender pedicels, in drooping few-fruited clusters, subglobose to broad-obovoid, dark red to 

 reddish purple, lustrous, \'~ long, and f '-f ' in diameter; calyx only slightly enlarged, the 

 lobes reflexed, glandular-serrate, and red on the upper side toward the base; flesh thick, 

 yellow, sweet, juicy and slightly acid; nutlets 4 or 5, full and rounded at apex, narrowed 

 and acute at base, and prominently but irregularly ridged on the back with a high some- 

 times grooved ridge, i'-jV l n g- 



A tree, 20-25 high, with a trunk 4 '-8' in diameter and 6-9 long, covered with dark 

 gray or gray-brown flaky bark, spreading branches forming an oblong or rounded open 

 head, and slender glabrous branchlets bright red-brown and very lustrous during their first 

 summer, becoming light gray-brown the following year, and armed with stout or slender 

 nearly straight spines \'-\\' long. 



Distribution. Rich clay or gravelly soil in pastures and on the borders of woods; north- 

 eastern Illinois (Lake, Cook and Mill Counties). 



67. Crataegus basilica Beadl. 



Leaves ovate, acute or acuminate, broad-cuneate or rounded at the entire or crenate 

 base, sharply and often doubly serrate above with straight slender glandular teeth, and 



Fig. 419 



divided into numerous short acute lateral lobes, more than half grown when the flowers 

 open early in May and then roughened above by short pale hairs and glabrous below, and 

 at maturity thin but firm in texture, bright green and scabrate above, paler below, 2^'-3' 

 long, and l|'-2' wide, with a slender yellow midrib, and thin veins arching to the point of 

 the lobes ; turning yellow and brown in the autumn ; petioles slender, slightly winged at apex, 

 l'-l|' in length. Flowers \'-\' in diameter, on elongated slender pedicels, in 5-15-flowered 

 glabrous compact corymbs; calyx-tube broadly obconic, glabrous, the lobes slender, acumi- 

 nate, glabrous, entire or occasionally serrate; stamens 15-20; anthers dark rose color; 



