Southern Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Crataegus phaenopyrum (L. f.) Medik
- Family: Rose (Rosaceae)
- Flowering: May-June
- Field Marks: This hawthorn can be distinguished from most others by its ovate, usually 3-lobed leaves and its flowers not more than 3/4 inch across.
- Habitat: Thickets, open woods.
- Habit: Tree up to 35 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 12 inches; crown broadly rounded.
- Bark: Brownish gray, soon becoming scaly.
- Twigs: Usually gray, slender, bearing sharp thorns.
- Leaves: Alternate, simple, ovate, pointed at the tip, rounded or heart-shaped at the base, often 3-lobed, toothed, usually smooth, dark green and shiny on the upper surface, up to 3 inches long.
- Flowers: Several in a cluster, each flower up to 3/4 inch across.
- Sepals: 5, green, pointed, united below.
- Petals: 5, white, free from each other.
- Stamens: About 20, with yellow anthers.
- Pistils: Ovary inferior.
- Fruits: Spherical or nearly so, red, up to 1/4 inch in diameter, containing 3-5 nutlets.
- Notes: The bright red fruits make this hawthorn an attractive ornamental.
Previous Species -- Parsley Hawthorn (Crataegus marshallii)
Return to Species List -- Group 5
Next Species -- Green Hawthorn (Crataegus viridis)
