Crataegus noelensis Sargent

Trees, 60–70 dm. Stems: trunks 15 cm diam.; compound thorns sometimes present on old trunks; branches spreading, forming wide flat or round-topped head; twigs: new growth with matted white hairs, later in 1st year becoming reddish brown, pubescent or puberulous, strongly flexuous, 1-year old gray, stout; thorns on twigs few or numerous, straight, 1-year old purple, slender, 2–7 cm, lustrous. Leaves deciduous; petiole slender, length 20–37% blade, slightly winged apically, hoary tomentose early, glabrescent; blade dark yellow-green, ovate to oval, 5–8 × 3–6 cm, more than 1/2 grown at anthesis, base narrowly or broadly cuneate, lobes 0, margins coarsely doubly serrate, teeth straight, venation craspedodromous, midvein prominent, veins thin, conspicuous, apex acute or acuminate, rarely rounded, abaxial surface villous, adaxial densely villous glabrescent; leaves at end of vigorous extension shoots broadly ovate, often 9 × 7–8 cm, base broadly rounded or cuneate, lobes usually short, lobe apex broadly acuminate, margins more coarsely serrate, apex acuminate. Inflorescences 5–10-flowered, compact; branches long-matted white-hairy; bracteoles caducous, linear, membranous, margins glandular. Flowers 20–25 mm diam.; hypanthium pubescent; sepals slender, margins minutely glandular-serrate, apex long-acuminate, abaxial surface slightly villous; stamens (5–)10, anthers rose; styles 3–5, base surrounded by wide ring of pale tomentum. Pomes on slender, drooping, pubescent pedicels, orange-red, suborbicular, 10 mm diam., hairy; flesh yellow, thin, soft; sepals prominent, with short tube, spreading or closely appressed; pyrenes 3–5, 5–6 mm, base rounded, apex narrowed and rounded, dorsally slightly grooved, sides plane.

Flowering Apr; fruiting Sep–Oct. Brush, open woods, rocky pastures; 100–200 m; Ark., Mo.

Crataegus ×latebrosa differs little from C. ×dispessa except in the lower stamen number (5–10) and wider range of style number (3–5). The only record of fruit color says orange-red; reports for C. ×dispessa uniformly declare crimson. The very narrow, caducous bracteoles and the leaf shape of C. ×latebrosa suggest a C. collina × ser. Molles ancestry.