Index    Handbook of the Trees of New England by Lorin Low Dame, Henry Brooks

 

 

 

Cratægus mollis, Scheele. Thorn.

Cratægus subvillosa, Schr. Cratægus coccinea, var. mollis, T. & G.

Habitat and Range.—Bordering on low lands and along streams.

Provinces of Quebec and Ontario.

Maine,—as far north as Mattawamkeag on the middle Penobscot, Dover on the Piscataquis, and Orono on the lower Penobscot; reported also from southern sections; Vermont,—Charlotte (Hosford); Massachusetts,—in the eastern part infrequent; no stations reported in the other New England states.

South to Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and Texas; west to Michigan and Missouri.

Habit.—Shrub or often a small tree, 20-30 feet high, with trunk 6-12 inches in diameter, often with numerous suckers; branches at 4-6 feet from the ground, at an acute angle with the stem, lower often horizontal or declining; head spreading, widest at base, spray short, angular, and bushy; thorns slender, 1-3 inches long, straight or slightly recurved.

Bark.—Bark of the whole tree, except the ultimate shoots, light gray, on the trunk and larger branches separating lengthwise into thin narrow plates, in old trees dark gray and more or less shreddy; season's shoots reddish or yellowish-brown, glossy.

Winter Buds and Leaves.—Buds small, ovate, reddish-brown, shining; scales broad, glandular-edged. Leaves simple, alternate, 3-5 inches long, light green above, lighter beneath, broad-ovate to broad-elliptical; rather regularly and slightly incised with fine, glandular-tipped teeth; apex acute; base wedge-shaped, truncate, or subcordate; roughish above and slightly pubescent beneath, especially along the veins; leaf-stalk pubescent; stipules linear, glandular-edged, deciduous.

Inflorescence.—May to June. In cymes from the season's growth; flowers white, 3/4 inch broad, ill-smelling; calyx lobes 5, often incised, pubescent; petals roundish; stamens indefinite, styles 3-5; flower stems pubescent; bracts glandular.

Fruit.—A drupe-like pome, ½-1 inch long, bright scarlet, larger than the fruit of the other New England species; ripens and falls in September.

Horticultural Value.—Hardy in New England. An attractive and useful tree in low plantations; rarely for sale by nurserymen or collectors; propagated from the seed.

Plate LX.

Plate LX.—Cratægus mollis.

1. Winter buds.

2. Branch with thorns.

3. Flowering branch.

4. Flower with part of perianth and stamens removed.

5. Fruiting branch.

Note.—The New England plants here put under the head of Cratægus mollis have been referred by Prof. C. S. Sargent to Cratægus submollis (Bot. Gaz., XXXI, 7, 1901). The new species differs from the true Cratægus mollis in its smaller ovate leaves with cuneate base and more or less winged leafstalk, in the smaller number of its stamens, usually 10, and in its pear-shaped orange-red fruit, which drops in early September.

It is also probable that C. Arnoldiana, Sargent, new species, has been collected in Massachusetts as C. mollis. It differs from C. submollis "in its broader, darker green, more villose leaves which are usually rounded, not cuneate at the base, in its smaller flowers, subglobose, not oblong or pear-shaped, crimson fruit with smaller spreading calyx lobes, borne on shorter peduncles and ripening two or three weeks earlier, and by its much more zigzag and more spiny branches, which make this tree particularly noticeable in winter, when it may readily be recognized from all other thorn trees."—C. S. Sargent in Bot. Gaz., XXXI, 223, 1901.