REPORT OF THE STATE BOTANIST I907 3 1 



Crataegus celsa n. sp. 



Leaves rnoniDic to obiong-obovate, acute or acuminate at tne 

 apex, grauualiy narrowea ana concave-cuiieate at liie entire oase, 

 tmely aoubly serrate above, witn incurvea glanauiar teeui, aiiu 

 sligniiy aivided above tne miaale into 4 or 5 pairs of small acute 

 lobes ; about half grown when the howers open auring tne last weeK 

 of May and then membranaceous, light yeiiow-green and sparingly 

 viUose especially on the midribs and veins, and at maturity subcori- 

 aceous, glabrous, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, 

 pale on the lower surface, 5-7 cm long and 3.5-5 cm wide, with 

 slender prominent midribs and 5-7 pairs of primary veins extending 

 obliquely, toward the apex of the leaf and deeply impressed on its 

 upper side; petioles slender, narrowly wing-margined often nearly 

 to the middle, slightly villose while young, soon becoming glabrous, 

 often rose color in the autumn, 1.5-2 cm in length; stipules linear, 

 minutely glandular, fading brown, caducous; leaves on vigorous 

 shoots thicker, more coarsely serrate and sometimes 9-10 cm long 

 and 8-9 cm wide, with thick rose colored midribs and stout broadly 

 winged petioles. Flowers 1.5 cm in diameter, on stout villose pedi- 

 cels, in compact many-flowered hairy corymbs, with linear to linear- 

 obovate slightly glandular caducous bracts and bractlets ; calyx-tube 

 narrowly obconic, thickly coated with long matted white hairs, the 

 lobes wide, acuminate, glandular serrate, glabrous on the outer, 

 villose on the inner surface below the middle; stamens 20; anthers 

 small, dark rose color; styles usually 3. Fruit ripening early 

 in October, on stout reddish drooping pedicels, in wide many-fruited 

 clusters, subglobose, full and rounded at the ends, crimson, very 

 lustrous, marked by large pale dots, about i cm long and 8 or 9 

 mm wide; calyx prominent, with a deep narrow cavity, and large 

 spreading, closely appressed, light green persistent lobes ; flesh thin, 

 yellow, dry and mealy; nutlets 3, full and rounded at the ends, or 

 narrow and acuminate at the apex, rounded and slightly ridged on 

 the back, with a broad low ridge 7-8 mm long, and 5 mm wide. 



An arborescent shrub sometimes 7 m high, with numerous stems 

 covered with dark gray scaly bark, spreading and ascending 

 branches, and stout slightly zigzag branchlets dark olive-green and 

 sparingly hairy when they first appear, becoming light orange-brown, 

 very lustrous and marked by large oblong lenticels in their first sea- 

 son and pale gray-brown the following year, and armed with numer- 

 ous stout nearly straight purple shining spines ^-6 cm long, often 

 pointing toward the base of the branch, and generally persistent on 

 old stems. 



