Crataegus punctata Jacq.

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Credits

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

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

Glossary

apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
calyx
(pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
entire
With an unbroken margin.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
globose
globularSpherical or globe-shaped.
ovate
Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.

References

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Credits

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

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

A tree 20 to 35 ft high, with a rounded head of often horizontal branches, more in diameter; trunk 10 to 20 in. through; branches more or less armed with spines 2 to 3 in. long; young shoots grey, hairy at first, then glabrous. Leaves broadly ovate, rounded or rather abruptly pointed at the apex, always tapered at the base; 2 to 4 in. long, 114 to 234 in. wide; toothed, the larger leaves of the barren shoots more or less lobed above the middle; veins parallel in five to ten pairs, deeply sunk above; upper surface dark green, both surfaces at first downy, afterwards almost or quite glabrous above, more persistently downy beneath; stalk 34 in. or less long. Flowers white, 34 in. diameter, opening early in June on corymbs up to 4 in. across; the calyx-tube, the inner surface of the narrow, almost entire lobes, and the flower-stalk hairy; stamens twenty; styles five. Fruit deep red, specked with pale dots; 34 to 1 in. diameter, slightly pear-shaped or almost globose.

Native of eastern N. America; introduced in 1746. It is certainly one of the most attractive and well-doing of American thorns, giving great crops of its white blossom and crimson fruits. A tree at Aldenham, Herts., planted in 1845, attained a height of 33 ft, with a head of branches 40 ft across.


f. aurea (Ait.) Rehd

Fruits yellow. According to E. J. Palmer, yellow fruited trees occur wild with the type, becoming commoner northwards.Forms have also been described in which the fruit is deep cherry-red and another in which it is red streaked with yellow near the base. In all forms of C. punctata the leaves are conspicuously parallel-veined and the fruits are marked by small pale dots. Leaves and fruits fall in October.