The trunk of this species attracts attention, sometimes by its form, always by its colour. Its vivid fruit hangs throughout the winter, making up in quantity what it lacks in size. Rare in the East and North, yet it is hardy in the Arnold Arboretum.
PRUINOSae Scarlet Haw (C. pruinosa, K. Koch.)—Small tree, 15 to zo feet high, spreading irregular head of horizontal limbs. Thorns numerous, stout, straight, 1 to t inches long. Bark grey, thin, in loose scales. Wood hard, heavy, close grained. Buds small. blunt, scaly. Leaves ovate or elliptical, acute, lobed and serrate, except on entire base; dark blue-green, smooth, leathery, paler beneath; 1 to I inches long, on slender petioles; autumn colour orange. Flowers, May, white, t inch broad, in few-flowered corymbs, stems long smooth; stamens zo, with long, rose-coloured anthers; styles 5, tufted. Fruit sub-globose, to inch in diameter, with erect calyx, green with hoary bloom until ripe, then purplish red and lustrous with pale dots. Nutlets 5, deeply ridged, enclosed in dry, thick flesh. Preferred habitat, limestone soil of slopes. Distribution, Vermont to southern slopes of Appa lachian Mountains; west to Illinois and Missouri. Uses: Valuable ornamental tree over wide territory.
There is a pale bloom on the green fruit of this tree, which wears off at length, and the skin becomes shiny and dark, purplish red. The leaves, too, have a bluish green cast through the summer, but turn to orange at last. This is one of the handsome native thorn trees, a long time confused with C. coccinea.
TENUIFOLiae Haw (C. apiomorpha, Sarg.)—A pyramidal tree, to to 25 feet high, with short trunk. Thorns short, straight, slender, grey, I to II inches long. Bark dark grey, cracking into plates which show yellow under layer. Leaves oblong-ovate, pointed at apex, serrate almost to petiole, irregularly lobed above middle, thick, leathery, lustrous, blue-green, paler beneath, membrana ceous and hairy when opening, t to 24 inches long, petioles slender. Flowers, May, in many-flowered corymbs, with hairy stems, small, white, stamens 5, anthers pink, styles 3 to 5, tufted. Fruits, September, in drooping clusters of 3 to 5; pea size, obovate, bright, red-purple; calyx large, spreading, deciduous, flesh thin, acid, succulent; nutlets 3 to 5, with one low ridge on back. Pre ferred habitat, dry borders of woodlands. Distribution, near
Chicago.
MOLLEs Red Haw (C. monis, Scheele.)—A tree 25 to 4o feet high, tall trunk; round head, branchlets stout. Thorns stout, brown, to 2 inches long, shining. Bark grey to brown, thin, in plate like scales; branches ashy grey; twigs coated with pale hairs. Wood hard, heavy, brown. Buds small, blunt. Leaves thick, firm, rough above, dark yellow-green, 3 to 4 inches long, broadly ovate, acute, serrate, with 4 to 5 pairs of pointed lobes above middle; base entire; lining, pale, pubescent; petioles slender, hairy, stipules leaf-like, toothed on vigorous shoots. Flowers, May, t inch across, in hairy, many-flowered corymbs, with prominent bracts; disc, red, calyx hoary, red-tipped, stamens 20, with pale yellow anthers, styles 4 to 5. Fruits, August and Sep tember, few in a cluster, drooping, scarlet, downy, globular, or nearly so, tot inch in diameter, marked with dark dots; calyx lobes large, erect, falling as fruit ripens, nutlets 4 to 5, faintly ridged, in thick, mealy yellow flesh. Preferred habitat, rich bottom lands. Distribution, Ohio to Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas.
This red haw is the type of a large group containing a dozen related species. Ample in size, fine in form and colouring, there is but one fault the landscape gardener can find. The red fruits fall early in the autumn.
Scarlet Haw (C. Arnoldiana, Sarg.)—A broad, open headed tree, 15 to 20 feet high, with ascending branches and slender, zigzag, orange-brown branchlets, downy at first. Thorns stout, shining, brown, 2 to 3 inches long. Bark dark grey, with thick scales on trunk; branches pale grey, smooth. Leaves broadly ovate, with shallow lobes, sharply serrate almost to petiole; covered at first with matted white hairs, at maturity lustrous, dark green above, paler beneath and smooth except on slender veins, 2 to 3 inches long and the same broad; petioles to t inches long. Flowers, May, in broad, compound corymbs; stems velvety; corolla inch across; stamens Jo, anthers pale yellow, large; styles 3 to 4, densely tufted. Fruit, August, September, soon falling, few in a cluster, erect, nearly globular, bright crimson, inch long, velvety, with large, pale dots; flesh thick, juicy, pleasantly acid; nutlets 3 to 4, ridged. Preferred habitat, dry banks. Distribution, Arnold Arboretum in Boston, and Medford, Massachusetts.