Downy hawthorn

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Downy hawthorn habit

Downy hawthorn leaf

Downy hawthorn bark

Downy hawthorn leaf

Downy hawthorn bud

Downy hawthorn

Morphology

Trunk

Stems or trunk ascending to erect; branches usually unarmed, sometimes armed, thorns dark gray to black, straight to plus or minus recurved, 1.2 to 2.4 inches; bark reddish brown to yellowish brown, fissures shallow, ridges blocky or scaly, peeling or exfoliating.

Twigs

Brown to gray, rigid, initially tomentose, glabrescent; leaf scars crescent-shaped to V-shaped; buds reddish brown, ovoid, .12 to .2 inch, apex acute, scales tomentose.

Leaves

Deciduous, alternate, simple; petiole .6 to 1.6 inches, tomentose or glabrate; blade ovate to elliptic, 1.6 to 4 inches long, 1.2 to 3.2 inches wide, thin, base truncate to wedge-shaped, lobes 2-4 per side, margins serrate, veins 4-7(-9) per side, apex acute to obtuse, lower surface light yellowish green, tomentose, upper surface dark yellowish green to green, dull, scabrous-pubescent or glabrate.

Flowers

Inflorescences terminal from new growth, cymes, 5-15-flowered; pedicels .4 to .8 inch, tomentose.bisexual, radially symmetric, .8 to 1 inch diameter; hypanthium obconic, tomentose; sepals 5, spreading, triangular, .16 to .24 inch; petals 5, white, elliptic to obovate, .3 to .5 inch; stamens (10 or) 20; anthers white; pistil 1, ovary inferior, (3-)5-locular, partially adnate to hypanthium; styles (3-)5, connate proximally, .28 to .3 inch; stigmas as many as styles, capitate.

Fruit

September-October; pomes, red, nearly spherical, .5 to .6 inch diameter, more or less tomentose, more or less glaucous; sepals usually deciduous; stones (3-)5, yellowish brown, wedge-shaped, .2 to .3 inch long, .08 to .16 inch wide.

Ecology

Habitat

Upland forests, woodland edges, floodplains, fencerows, pastures.

Distribution

Principally east 1/3 of Kansas

Additional Notes