BILTMORE BOTANICAL STUDIES 



103 



thirds grown j they are produced in simple, 3-5-flowered corymbs 

 which terminate short leafy branchlets or fascicles of leaves : 

 pedicels and hypanthium tomentose : sepals 4-5 mm long, gland- 

 ular-serrate, reflexed after anthesis : stamens 20, the anthers 

 yellow : fruit, which ripens in September, globose when fully 

 ripe, 7-g mm in diameter, red : nutlets 3-5, about 6 mm long, the 

 lateral surfaces nearly plane : hypostyle 4 mm long. 



Crataegus arguta grows in dry woods and slopes in eastern central Alabama 

 and southwestern Georgia. 



The type specimens, representing flowers (B4123) and fruit {B4123 2 &3 ) 

 from the same tree and deposited in the Biltmore Herbarium, were gathered 

 at Girard, Alabama. 



Crataegus laxa n. sp. 



A small tree or large shrub 3-6 m tall, sometimes with a short 

 trunk 2 dm in diameter, covered with dark gray or brownish-black 

 rough bark, the spreading and slightly drooping branches forming 

 a wide crown: leaves cuneate or obovate-cuneiform, the blades 

 i.5-5 cm long, 7mm_3cm w ide, or broader on leading shoots, either 

 rounded, abruptly pointed or lobed at the apex, narrowed or con- 

 tracted at the base, the borders dentate, glandular ; they are dull 

 green and thickly coated with tomentum at the time of unfolding, 

 becoming bright green and pubescent in age, firm to subcoria- 

 ceous in texture, fading with tones of yellow, orange and brown : 

 petioles 7 mm -2.5 cm long, winged, glandular, pubescent: flowers 

 i4-i8 mm wide, opening early in April and when the leaves are 

 less than half grown ; they are produced in simple, 3-5-flowered 

 corymbs which terminate short leafy branchlets or fascicles of 

 leaves: pedicels and hypanthium tomentose: sepals 3. 5— 5 mm 

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

 anthers white : fruit, which ripens in September, subglobose or 

 short-oval, 7-9™™ thick, 9-1 i mra long, red at maturity: nutlets 



3- 5, about 7 mm long, the lateral surfaces nearly plane : hypostyle 



4- 5 mm long. 



Crataegus laxa grows in dry woods and on ridges in eastern central Ala- 

 bama, and the original specimens, which represent flowers (Ifyi/y) and fruit 

 (#^//7 2&3 ) from the same tree, were collected at Phoenix City. 



The type material is preserved in the Biltmore Herbarium 



