Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Cock-spur hawthorn

COCK-SPUR HAWTHORN

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Crataegus crus-galli L.

Clay County, Kansas

Height: To 32 feet

Family: Rosaceae - Rose Family

Flowering Period: April, May

Trunks:

Stems or trunk ascending to erect; branches armed, thorns dark gray to black, plus or minus recurved, 1.2 to 2.8 inches; bark dark brown, fissures shallow, ridges short, scaly, peeling and often exfoliating in plates.

Twigs:

Light brown to gray or dark gray, rigid, glabrous; leaf scars crescent-shaped; buds reddish brown, ovoid, .06 to .12 inch, apex obtuse, scales glabrous.

Leaves:

Deciduous, alternate, simple; petiole 0 to .2 inch, glabrous; blade spatulate to oblanceolate or elliptic, .8 to 2.8 inches long, .4 to 1 inch wide, leathery, base attenuate, margins minutely toothed to crenate, veins 4-7 per side, apex acute to obtuse, lower surface green, glabrous, upper surface dark green, shiny, glabrous or glabrescent.

Flowers:

Inflorescences terminal from new growth, racemes, (3-)6-12(-15)-flowered; pedicels .28 to .4 inch, glabrous. Flowersbisexual, radially symmetric, .5 to .68 inch diameter; hypanthium obconic, glabrous; sepals 5, spreading, triangular, .2 to .24 inch; petals 5, white, elliptic to obovate, .28 to .3 inch; stamens 10 or 20; anthers white to pink or red; pistil 1, ovary inferior, 1-2(-3)-locular, partially adnate to hypanthium; styles 1-2(-3), connate proximally, .16 to .2 inch; stigmas as many as styles, capitate.

Fruit:

September-October; pomes, red, nearly spherical, .3 to .55 inch diameter, glabrous, more or less glaucous; sepals persistent; stones 1-3, yellowish brown, wedge-shaped, .24 to .35 inch long, .16 to .24 inch wide.

Habitat:

Upland forests, woodland edges, glades, rocky pastures.

Distribution:

East 1/4 of Kansas

Origin:

Native.

Comments:

Crataegus crus-galli is among the most abundant hawthorns in North America. It is a widely planted ornamental, and thorn-less cultivars are available.

Cock-spur hawthorn habit