SCARLET HAW (Cratxgus pruinosa, K. Koch). 15 to 20 feet. Small tree with irregular, spreading head of horizontal limbs. Thorns numerous, stout, straight, 1 to 11 inches long. Bark thin, gray, scaly. Wood brown, hard, heavy, used for fuel. Leaves ovate, lobed and serrate, except toward base; dark blue-green, smooth, leathery, paler beneath; 1 to 11 inches long, on slim petioles; orange-colored in autumn.
Flowers in May, like those of C. cestivalis. Fruit flattened, 1 toe inch long, purplish, lustrous, with pale dots; calyx lobes erect; nutlets 5, deeply ridged; flesh dry. Dist.: Limestone soil, Vermont to southern slopes of Appalachian Mountains; west to Illinois and Missouri. Fine ornamental tree.