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Southern Wetland Flora

Field Office Guide to Plant Species

May Hawthorn
Crataegus aestivalis (Walter) Torr. & Gray

JPG -- Species Photo GIF -- Distribution Map

Family: Rose (Rosaceae)
Flowering: March-April
Field Marks: Of the southern hawthorns, this one may be distinguished by its leaves broadest above the middle and rusty brown hairs on the lower surface of the leaves, particularly along the veins.
Habitat: Bottomlands, sloughs, sandy woods, in shallow ponds and shallow areas around ponds, swamps.
Habit: Tree to 20 feet tall, sometimes appearing more like a several-stemmed shrub.
Bark: Gray, breaking into flakes to expose a reddish underbark.
Twigs: Gray, often with sharp thorns up to nearly 2 inches long.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, broadest above the middle, toothed or shallowly lobed, smooth or hairy on the upper surface, usually with rusty brown hairs beneath on the veins, varying in size and shape depending on whether they are on flowering or non-flowering branches; leaves on flowering branches elliptic to spatulate, rounded or pointed at the tip, tapering to the base, up to 2 inches long, up to 1 inch wide; leaves on non-flowering branches ovate to obovate, up to 3 inches long, up to 1 1/2 inches wide.
Flowers: Solitary or in few-flowered umbels, on smooth stalks less than 1 inch long.
Sepals: 5, green, united below, smooth or hairy, the lobes up to 1/4 inch long.
Petals: 5, white or pink-tinged, up to 1/2 inch long.
Stamens: 15-20.
Pistils: Ovary inferior; styles 2-5.
Fruits: Pomes red, nearly spherical, up to 1/2 inch in diameter.
Notes: The acid fruits can be made into a fine jelly. A Mayhaw Festival is held each year in Colquit, Georgia.

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