26. Crataegus macrosperma Ashe (eastern hawthorn)

C. acutiloba Sarg.

C. brumalis Ashe

C. demissa Sarg.

C. matura Sarg.

C. pastorum Sarg.

C. pentandra Sarg.

C. roanensis Ashe

C. tenuifolia Britton

Map 2437

Plants shrubs, mostly 3–4 m tall, or small trees to 7 m tall. Branchlets with the thorns 2.5–4.0 cm long and relatively stout (4–6 cm and more slender elsewhere), dark brown to purplish black at second year, becoming gray with age. Petioles 10–30 mm long, Leaf blades 3–6(–8) cm long, ovate to triangular-ovate or broadly ovate, the upper surface usually relatively densely roughened with stiff appressed hairs when young, the lateral veins 4–7 pairs. Inflorescences 5–10(–12)-flowered, the branches glabrous or shaggy-hairy, the bracts few and shed early or frequently not produced. Flowers 13–17 mm in diameter. Sepals 4–5 mm long, the margins more or less entire. Stamens 5–10, the anthers pink to reddish purple. Fruits 8–15 mm in diameter, bright to deep red. 2n=68; tetraploid (by flow cytometry; see Talent and Dickinson [2005]). April–May.

Uncommon, known thus far only from historical collections from Iron and Ripley Counties (eastern [mostly northeastern] U.S. west to Minnesota and Arkansas; southeastern Canada). Habitat unknown.

The status of this species as a member of the state’s flora is uncertain. All four of the specimens said to have originated from Missouri were collected from plants cultivated at the Arnold Arboretum said to have been grown from seeds collected in Missouri by Bush and Palmer.