470 



The Thorn Trees 



larly along the veins below, thin and firm, 

 dark green above, paler below, 2.5 to 9 cm. 

 long, 2 to 8 cm. wide; leaf-stalks slightly 

 winged toward the apex, woolly-hairy, i 

 to 2 cm. long. The flowers are about 15 

 mm. wide, in many-flowered, woolly-hairy 

 corymbs; calyx- tube densely woolly-hairy, 

 the lanceolate, long-pointed lobes less 

 hairy, glandular-toothed; stamens about 

 20; styles 5. The fruit ripens in August 

 or September; it is depressed-globose, 12 

 to 15 mm. thick, red, hairj-, calyx-lobes re- 

 flexed; flesh thin, yellow, dry and mealy; 

 Fig. 423. — NashvUle Thorn. . ' .1 l ' o 1 .il 



It contams 5 nutlets 7 to 8 mm. long, the 



nest 10 to II mm. thick; nutlets lightly grooved on the back, with a deep sinus 

 between them. 



34. RED-FRUITED THORN— Crataegus mollis (Torrey and Gray) Scheele 

 Craiagus coccinea mollis Torrey and Gray 



This species, also called Red haw, occurs from the Isle of Orleans, Quebec, 

 through western New England southward to Tennessee, and west to South Dakota, 

 eastern Nebraska, and Arkansas. It is a tree sometimes 13 meters high, with 

 wide-spreading branches, forming a broad round- topped crown; the bark is grayish 

 brown, fissured and scaly; the twigs are 

 covered with dense woolly hairs when young, 

 soon becoming smooth, and are armed with 

 chestnut-brown, curved spines, from 3 to 5 

 cm. long. 



The leaves are broadly ovate, pointed 

 at the apex, cut square or heart-shaped at 

 the base, doubly toothed, with sharp teeth 

 and 4 or 5 pairs of sharp lobes, 4 to 13 cm. 

 long, 4 to 10 cm. wide, with appressed hairs 

 on the upper surface, becoming roughish, 

 wooUy-hairy beneath, halfrleathery, yellow- 

 green; leaf-stalks woolly-hairy, sometimes 

 , glandular when young, sometimes nearly 

 smooth when mature, from 2 to 4 cm. long. 

 The flowers, about 20 mm. wide, are in many-flowered, woolly-hairy corymbs; 

 calyx densely woolly-hairy, the lobes toothed or cut, glandular; stamens 10 to 20; 

 anthers large, light yellow; styles 4 or 5. The fruit, ripening late in August or 

 September, is short-oblong, subglobose or pear-shaped, 15 to 25 mm. thick, red 



Fig. 424. — Red-fruited Thom. 



