Crataegus brachyacantha Sarg. & Engelm.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Crataegus brachyacantha' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/crataegus/crataegus-brachyacantha/). Accessed 2024-03-18.

Common Names

  • Pomette Bleue

Glossary

bloom
Bluish or greyish waxy substance on leaves or fruits.
calyx
(pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
ovate
Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.
truncate
Appearing as if cut off.

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Crataegus brachyacantha' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/crataegus/crataegus-brachyacantha/). Accessed 2024-03-18.

A deciduous tree, described by Sargent as 40 to 50 ft high, forming a broad, compact, round-topped head; young shoots slightly downy at first, soon glabrous; thorns sturdy, 13 to 1 in. long. Leaves oval or ovate, 1 to 2 in. long, about half as wide, tapered at the base, shallowly round-toothed, glossy dark green, glabrous except on the upper surface when young. On vigorous barren shoots, the leaves are often of almost triangular shape, and truncate or even heart-shaped at the base, with stipules 1 in. long. Flowers small, the petals turning orange-coloured with age; flower-stalks and outside of calyx glabrous; calyx-lobes not toothed; stamens fifteen to twenty; styles three or five. Fruit roundish, bright blue, covered with a blue-white bloom, 13 to 12 in. across.

Native of the southern central United States; introduced in 1900. The most remarkable character of this thorn is the bright blue fruit. It belongs to Sargent’s group Brachyacanthae, to which also belongs:


C saligna Greene

A native of Colorado, at 6,000–8,000 ft. Its glabrous reddish young shoots are armed with thorns {3/4} in. or more long. Fruit globose, shining, {1/4} in. across, red, finally blue-black. A tree 20 ft high, with firm-textured, deep green, smooth and glossy leaves up to 2 in. long and 1 in. wide, ovate-lanceolate or oval.