Crataegus baroussana Eggl.

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Credits

Article from New Trees by John Grimshaw & Ross Bayton

Recommended citation
'Crataegus baroussana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/crataegus/crataegus-baroussana/). Accessed 2024-03-19.

Glossary

endemic
(of a plant or an animal) Found in a native state only within a defined region or country.
variety
(var.) Taxonomic rank (varietas) grouping variants of a species with relatively minor differentiation in a few characters but occurring as recognisable populations. Often loosely used for rare minor variants more usefully ranked as forms.

References

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Credits

Article from New Trees by John Grimshaw & Ross Bayton

Recommended citation
'Crataegus baroussana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/crataegus/crataegus-baroussana/). Accessed 2024-03-19.

Small, erect tree to 7 m. Thorns straight and stout, 2–2.5 cm long. Leaves deciduous, 3–5 cm long, roughly rhombic, upper surface somewhat pubescent, lower surface initially glabrous, later scabrous, four to six secondary veins on each side of the midrib, margin with few shallow lobes near the apex, sharply serrate with teeth to 0.2 cm, apex acute; petiole ~1 cm long; stipules deciduous. Inflorescence corymbose or paniculate with 5–10 flowers. Flowers white, 1.5 cm diameter; hypanthium glabrous, sepals narrowly triangular with glandular margins, petals circular, stamens 10 with pink anthers. Fruit ~1.2 cm long, spherical, red with conspicuous reflexed sepals at the crown, seeds three to five. Flowering April (Mexico). Phipps 1997. Distribution MEXICO: Coahuila, Nuevo León. Habitat Oak-pine forest and meadows. USDA Hardiness Zone 8. Conservation status Not evaluated. Illustration Phipps 1997; NT281, NT282.

Crataegus baroussana is barely known in cultivation, although its relatively large flowers and big fruits suggest that it has considerable garden merit. There are two trees of it at Kew, grown from Keith Rushforth’s 1985 collection KR 534 made at 2650 m in Canyon de Jame, Coahuila, Mexico, and Rushforth also maintains material in his private collection. This is probably var. jamensis J.B. Phipps, endemic to the Jame Canyon, which can be distinguished from var. baroussana by its more leathery leaves, unlobed or barely lobed, with teeth to 0.1 cm long. The fruits are somewhat longer (1.5–1.7 cm) than in the typical variety. The Kew specimens are now 1.5–2 m tall, forming rounded bushes.