This is the largest hawthorn in eastern New England. Its scaly bark is often almost white. Its leaves are more distinctly yellow than green—greenish yellow, to speak accurately. The lustrous crimson fruit makes a gorgeous autumn contrast with bark and foliage.
Scattered over pasture land, these lusty young trees are cropped by cattle, which manage to avoid the infrequent thorns. By degrees, the girth of the tree widens, in spite of the pruning thus administered. The terminal shoot finally rises above the reach of any yearning tongue. It branches, and lifts above the dome-like basal part a flourishing top that grows loose and free in striking contrast to the compact close-clipped base. Many of these pasture trees have this hour-glass form.
DILATATae Red Haw (C. coccinioides, Ashe.)—A tree io to 25 feet high, with broad dome of stout, spreading branches. Thorns 11 to 2 inches long, straight, stout, purplish red. Dark dark brown, scaly; branches light grey. Leaves broadly ovate, acute, sharply serrate, with deep pointed lateral lobes, 2 to 3 inches long, lustrous yellow-green, at first; becoming dull, dark green later; thin, turning to orange and bright red in fall; petioles bright red, to I inch long. Flowers, May, in compact corymbs, with prom inent, serrate bracts, with red glands; corolla inches across; stamens 20, anthers large, rose colour; styles 5. Fruits, October, falling gradually; clusters erect; haws globose, flattened at ends, lustrous, dark red, with pale dots; calyx conspicuous, red at base; flesh thick, reddish, pleasantly acid; nutlets 5, small, slightly ridged on back. Preferred habitat, dry woods. Distribution, St. Louis, Missouri, to eastern Kansas. Uses: Desirable orna mental thorn tree.
The very large leaves of this tree obscure the compact fruit clusters, and its ornamental character is not so obvious until the leaves turn. I recall one tree, a fine, lusty specimen, loaded with fruit in late September. There was a cockspur on one side, an Arnoldiana on the other. Both were bidding high for attention, one with its crimson fruits, the other with its splendid foliage and flashing thorns. A flush of rose pink covered the middle tree, the fruits turning to red. There was more delicacy of colouring and moderation here, which made the two trees alongside seem rather common and gaudy by contrast. Sometimes soft colours appeal strongly as a relief from more vivid ones. Out of this period the tree passes to its flaming October garb, in the midst of which the shining fruits are a dark crimson, and even the twigs and spines burn red or purple.
COCCINEae Scarlet Haw (C. coccinea, Linn.)—A shrubby round tree, to to zo feet high, with short trunk, and stout, ascending branches. Thorns stout, shining, t to 11 inches long, brown. Bark dark red-brown, scaly; branches grey. Leaves elliptical or obovate, acute at both ends, serrate and acutely lobed on, sides; 2i to 3 inches long; veins prominent ; petioles 1 inch long, tinged with red. Flowers, May or June, in broad corymbs with downy stems; corollas i to inch across; stamens to, anthers small, yellow. Fruit, October, falling soon; sub-globose to oblong, -I inch in diameter, deep crimson, with dark dots; calyx red, spreading; flesh sweet, dry, thin; nutlets 3 to 4, distinctly ridged on back. Preferred Habitat, well-drained soil, along low hills and banks of salt marshes. Distribution, Newfoundland to Connecticut, along the shore, and along St. Lawrence to western Quebec. Var. rolundifolia, a shrub, New England into Pennsylvania.
This scarlet thorn, the one that named, has very uncertain botanical and geographical limits. Those forms found west of Quebec are now excluded, and many that were counted mere varietal forms are now promoted to specific rank. These changes in classification are the result of recent studies of the genus in various regions. The true coccinea is one of the old well-known ornamental thorns, a favourite in the Northeastern States.
X. INTRicAvE Haw (C. Boyntoni, Beadl.)—Narrow or round-headed tree, 15 to 20 feet high, with tall, straight trunk, often a many-stemmed shrub. Thorns numerous, slender, straight, 11 to 2 inches long, sometimes branched when old. Bark grey, often brownish, scaly. Leaves broadly ovate, acute, irregularly lobed, finely serrate, thin, firm, yellow-green at maturity; smooth, i to 2-1 inches long; petioles stout, short, with red glands. Flowers, May, in 4 to io-flowered corymbs, smooth, corrollas j inch across, stamens lo, anthers pale yellow; styles 3 to 5, tufted. Fruit ripe and falling in October, in erect clusters of 2 to 4; each a flattened globe, rusty reddish green, with dark dots, inch in diameter; calyx spreading, falling off before fruit ripens; flesh thin; nutlets 3 to 5, distinctly ridged. Preferred habitat, stream borders and uplands. Distribution, Appalachian foothills, to 3,000 feet elevation; southern Virginia and southeastern Kentucky to northern Georgia and Alabama.