BILTMORE BOTANICAL STUDIES 



63 



when the leaves are fully grown ; they are produced in simple, 

 glandular-bracteate, 3-6-flowered corymbs which terminate short, 

 leafy branchlets : pedicels i-2 cm long, glabrous, as is the hypan- 

 thium : sepals 5-6 mm long, glandular serrate, reflexed after anthe- 

 sis : stamens 20, the anthers yellow : fruit, which ripens in October, 

 globose, 8-1 2 mm wide, red at maturity, the flesh firm : nutlets 3-5, 

 6-7mm long, the lateral surfaces plane : hypostyle about 3 mm long. 



Cratcegus eximia is a most beautiful thorn, especially noteworthy on 

 account of the large foliage and flowers and its bright red fruit. Common in 

 rocky glades on Sand Mountain, near Pisgah, Jackson County, Alabama (type 

 locality). 



The original specimens, flowers {H4448) and fruit (Hj^dS) from the same 

 shrub, are preserved in the Biltmore Herbarium. 



Crataegus ancisa n. sp. 



A small tree 4-5™ tall with a short trunk sometimes i-i.5 dm in 

 diameter, clothed with dark gray scaly bark, but more frequently 

 a much-branched shrub with ascending or spreading branches 

 which are sometimes armed with spines 3-5 cm long : leaves ovate 

 or oval, 2.5~6 cm long exclusive of the petioles, i-5-5 cm wide, acute 

 at the apex, contracted or rounded, or on leading shoots truncate 

 at the base, the borders serrate and deeply incised ; they are gla- 

 brous at the time of unfolding, except for a few weak, deciduous 

 hairs along the midrib and largest veins on the upper surface, 

 firm to subcoriaceous in texture, fading in autumn with tones of 

 yellow, brown and orange : petioles i~3 cm long, margined, re- 

 motely glandular: flowers i5-20 mm wide, expanding during the 

 latter part of April and when the leaves are about half grown ; 

 they are disposed in simple, glandular-bracteate, 3-6-flowered 

 corymbs which terminate short leafy branchlets of the present 

 season's growth : pedicels and hypanthium glabrous : sepals 3-4 mm 

 long, glandular-serrate, reflexed after anthesis : stamens 20, the 

 anthers pale purple : fruit, which ripens in October, globose or 

 subglobose, io-i2 mm in diameter, at maturity red or ruddy, the 

 flesh firm : nutlets 3-5, 6-7 mm long, the lateral surfaces nearly 

 plane : hypostyle occupying about two-thirds of the ventral angle. 



Cratcegus ancisa frequents hillsides and upland woods and is distributed 

 from Meridian, Mississippi (type locality), to central and eastern Alabama. 

 The type material (II3092) is preserved in the Biltmore Herbarium. 



