Kindly sponsored by
This genus has been sponsored and new text is being prepared.
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Crataegus phaenopyrum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
An elegant tree up to 30 ft high, with a slender trunk supporting a dense, rounded head of leafy branches; young shoots slender, glabrous; thorns sharp, slender, up to 3 in. long, sometimes branched. Leaves triangular, broadly ovate, heart-shaped or slightly rounded at the base, pointed, often lobed towards the base, sharply toothed; 1 to 3 in. long, 3⁄4 to 21⁄4 in. wide; of a vivid lustrous green, and glabrous except when first expanded; stalk up 1 in. long. Flowers white, 1⁄2 in. across, produced during July in terminal and axillary corymbs 2 to 3 in. wide. Calyx and flower-stalk quite glabrous; stamens twenty; anthers pink; styles two to five. Fruit scarlet, orange-shaped, 1⁄4 in. diameter, persisting on the tree until spring.
Native of the south-eastern United States; introduced in 1738. This handsome species is one of the most distinct of all the thorns. It flowers the latest of all the better-known kinds, and its small, bright fruits are beautiful through the winter. The leaves die off in shades of scarlet and orange.