Shrubs or trees, 60 dm, branches ± weeping. Stems: twigs: new growth ˂green˃, pubescent, 1-year old purplish brown under exfoliating wax, older deep dull gray; thorns on twigs ˂absent or numerous˃, straight to slightly recurved, 1-year old often copper to deep red, 1.5–5 cm. Leaves: petiole length 30–40% blade, roughly pubescent, black-glandular; blade ˂dull green, abaxially paler˃, oblong-spatulate to cuneate or narrowly obdeltate, 3 cm, thin, ± floppy, base cuneate, lobes 1 or 2 per side distally, well defined, lobe apex acute, margins strongly crenate-serrate almost to bases, densely glandular, ˂glands black˃, veins (2 or)3 or 4(or 5) per side, apex usually cuspidate, sometimes acute, adaxial surface sparsely pubescent young, main veins and axils hairy; ˂on extension shoots larger, relatively wider, more deeply incised˃. Inflorescences 3–7-flowered; branches densely short-canescent; bracteoles ˂deciduous˃, linear, margins short-stipitate-glandular, ˂adaxially short-pubescent˃. Flowers 15–20 mm diam.; hypanthium tomentose; sepals narrowly triangular, margins glandular-serrate, abaxially pubescent; anther color not recorded; styles 3–5. Pomes ˂1–3 per infructescence˃, deep red, suborbicular, 10 mm diam., ˂punctate˃, glabrous; sepals patent to reflexed; pyrenes 3–5.

Flowering Apr–early May; fruiting Aug–Sep. Dry pine woods, open scrub, sand plains; 100–800 m; Ala., Fla., Ga., La., N.C., S.C.

Crataegus senta is widespread from western North Carolina and South Carolina (where it is most common) to northern Florida and Georgia, with a disjunct record from West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. Habitats are typical for the series.

Crataegus senta most resembles C. dispar but is more often confused with C. lancei. Short-shoot leaves of C. senta are narrower and are not as lanate as in C. dispar. Smaller leaves of C. senta have fewer veins (1 or 2 per side); their shape is more like that of C. lancei, but the differences of lobes and leaf teeth are striking (see key and C. lancei discussion). In C. senta, extension-shoot leaves differ little from those of the short shoots, having multiple, relatively short, acute lobes across the subterminal part. By contrast, the extension-shoot leaves of C. lancei are of a long-petiolate, narrowly rhombic form with 1–3 acute to subacute lobes per side. The large, red, cherrylike fruit, similar to that of C. lancei, is very striking.