Britton hawthorn

Crataegus uniflora Munchhausen var. brittonii (Eggleston) Lance

Shrubs, ˂slender˃, 30–40 dm. Stems: twigs: new growth pubescent, 1-year old gray-brown, ± shiny, ˂glabrous˃, older gray; thorns on twigs often numerous, ± straight to slightly recurved, 1-year old blackish, ± slender, 3–5 cm. Leaves: petiole 3–6 mm, ˂flared distally˃, pubescent, glandularity not recorded; blade elliptic-rhombic to broadly elliptic-rhombic, 2–3.5 cm (usually widest near middle), length/width = 1.3 or wider, base broadly cuneate, lobes 0, or 1(or 2) per side, margins crenate-serrate, teeth caducous, gland-tipped, venation ± craspedodromous, veins 3 or 4 per side, apex rounded to subacute, abaxial surface ˂pale green˃, soft pubescent, indumentum variably persistent with age, adaxial ˂dark green˃, appressed-pubescent. Inflorescences 2–6-flowered; branches densely pubescent; bracteoles type 2. Flowers 14–18 mm diam.; hypanthium densely pubescent; sepals foliaceous, at least as long as petals, adaxially pubescent; anthers ivory; styles 3–5. Pomes red or ruddy, sometimes becoming dull brown, 14 mm, pubescent; sepals reflexed; pyrenes 3–5.

Flowering Apr–May; fruiting Sep–Nov. Brush; of conservation concern; 0–200 m; Ala., Ga., N.C., Tenn.

Crataegus brittonii is a rare species with a scattered distribution.

For a discussion of the possibly synonymous but untypified pink-anthered Crataegus rhodella Ashe and C. arenicola Ashe see J. B. Phipps and K. A. Dvorsky (2006).