Crataegus persimilis

Last updated

Crataegus persimilis
Crataegus x persimilis Prunifolia - Flickr - peganum.jpg
In early fall
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Subtribe: Malinae
Genus: Crataegus
Species:
C. persimilis
Binomial name
Crataegus persimilis
Synonyms
  • Crataegus cerasinaSarg.
  • Crataegus crus-galli var. prunifoliaTorrey & A.Gray
  • Crataegus heldebergensisSarg.
  • Crataegus laetificaSarg.
  • Crataegus livonianaSarg.
  • Crataegus ovalifolia(Hornem.) DC.
  • Crataegus prunifolia(Poir.) Bosc ex DC.
  • Crataegus prunifolia(Poir.) Pers.
  • Crataegus prunifoliaPers.
  • Crataegus robustaSarg.
  • Crataegus splendensLodd.
  • Mespilus prunifoliaPoir.

Crataegus persimilis is a species of hawthorn, known by the common names plumleaf hawthorn and broad-leaved cockspur thorn, native to southern Ontario, Canada, and the US states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia. It is widely cultivated, particularly in Europe, as an ornamental. Its sporadic distribution in its natural range and certain of its morphological characters leads authorities to consider it a probable naturally occurring hybrid, with its most likely parents being Crataegus succulenta (fleshy hawthorn) and Crataegus crus-galli (cockspur hawthorn). It is a tetraploid. Some populations may be self-perpetuating. Its 'Prunifolia' cultivar has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit, [2] and is considered one of its top 5 trees for smaller gardens. [3]

Contents

Description

Consistent with the hypothesis that C. persimilis is a relatively newly arisen hybrid species, there is quite a bit of variation in botanical characters between individuals. The variable traits include the shapes of the leaves, hairs and scales (or the lack thereof) on inflorescences, number of stamens, the color of the anthers, and pitting and other ornamentation (or lack thereof) of the pyrenas. The type specimen, collected along the Genesee River near Rochester, New York, has the narrowest leaves, and the most stamens (10 to 20), of any described specimen. It also has pink anthers, sparsely pubescent corymbs, and deeply pitted pyrenas. The cultivated 'Prunifolia' has a much broader leaves as well as densely pubescent or nearly tomentose corymbs, and only ten pink anthers.

C. persimilis are shrubs or trees, 5 to 6 m tall and spreading with a dome-like growth form to about the same width. New twigs and stems are glabrous, with one year old bark a brownish purple, older growth is dull gray. The thorns found on twigs can be straight or recurved. Once the thorns have been on the tree for two years they are a shiny purplish black, and 4 to 7 cm long. Typically older branches and the trunk do not have thorns.

Its deciduous leaves are glabrous and coriaceous. The dark green leaf blades are more or less narrowly obovate to broadly elliptic or rhombic-elliptic, 4 to 5 cm long, with serrate margins.

The flowers are five-petaled and are white, with cream or pink anthers. The fruits are pomes, and bright scarlet when mature. They flower in May and fruit much later, in September or October. In autumn the leaves take on a striking range of colors from deep yellow to a fiery orange to scarlet and on to purple.

Uses

The C. persimilis cultivar 'Prunifolia' is used as a street tree, and is often used in gardens as an ornamental, especially for its spectacular autumn display. It is dense enough to use as a hedge or windbreak.

Pest and diseases

C. persimilis is susceptible to fire blight ( Erwinia amylovora ) but has some resistance. It is affected by hawthorn sawfly leaf miners ( Profenusa canadensis ), but they seldom cause serious damage to healthy plants. It may also be afflicted by leaf spot ( Diplocarpon mespili ), caterpillars, gall mites and aphids. [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>Crataegus</i> Genus of flowering plants in the rose family Rosaceae

Crataegus, commonly called hawthorn, quickthorn, thornapple, May-tree, whitethorn, Mayflower or hawberry, is a genus of several hundred species of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Asia, North Africa and North America. The name "hawthorn" was originally applied to the species native to northern Europe, especially the common hawthorn C. monogyna, and the unmodified name is often so used in Britain and Ireland. The name is now also applied to the entire genus and to the related Asian genus Rhaphiolepis.

<i>Crataegus monogyna</i> Species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae

Crataegus monogyna, known as common hawthorn, one-seed hawthorn, or single-seeded hawthorn, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae. It is native to Europe, northwestern Africa, and West Asia, but has been introduced in many other parts of the world.

<i>Photinia</i> Genus of shrubs in the family Rosaceae

Photinia is a genus of about 30 species of small trees and large shrubs, but the taxonomy has recently varied greatly, with the genera Heteromeles, Stranvaesia and Aronia sometimes included in Photinia.

<i>Prunus cerasifera</i> Species of plum

Prunus cerasifera is a species of plum known by the common names cherry plum and myrobalan plum. It is native to Southeast Europe and Western Asia, and is naturalised in the British Isles and scattered locations in North America. Also naturalized in parts of SE Australia where it is considered to be a mildly invasive weed of bushland near urban centers.

<i>Ulmus pumila</i> Species of tree

Ulmus pumila, the Siberian elm, is a tree native to Asia. It is also known as the Asiatic elm and dwarf elm, but sometimes miscalled the 'Chinese elm'. U. pumila has been widely cultivated throughout Asia, North America, Argentina, and southern Europe, becoming naturalized in many places, notably across much of the United States.

<i>Crataegus heterophylla</i> Species of hawthorn

Crataegus heterophylla, known as the various-leaved hawthorn, is of uncertain origin. Its original native range is not known, possibly it was the Caucasus of Western Asia. Suggestions that it originated in Southeast Europe may be based on misidentification.

<i>Crataegus laevigata</i> Species of plant

Crataegus laevigata, known as the Midland hawthorn, English hawthorn, woodland hawthorn, or mayflower, is a species of hawthorn native to western and central Europe, from Great Britain and Spain east to the Czech Republic and Hungary. It is also present in North Africa. The species name is sometimes spelt C. levigata, but the original orthography is C. lævigata.

<i>Kleinhovia</i> Species of plant

Kleinhovia hospita is an evergreen, tropical tree native to Indonesia, Malaysia and other parts of tropical Asia and the Pacific. It is monotypic, being the only species in the genus Kleinhovia.

<i>Rhaphiolepis indica</i> Species of shrub

Rhaphiolepis indica, the Indian hawthorn, India hawthorn or Hong Kong hawthorn is an evergreen shrub in the family Rosaceae.

<i>Sorbus hupehensis</i> Species of tree

Sorbus hupehensis, also known as Hupeh rowan or Hubei rowan, is a species of rowan native to central and western China. It is found between Qinghai and Gansu in the west, Yunnan in the south, Jiangxi in the southeast, and Shandong in the east.

<i>Prunus tomentosa</i> Species of tree

Prunus tomentosa is a species of Prunus native to northern and western China, Korea, Mongolia, and possibly northern India. Common names for Prunus tomentosa include Nanjing cherry, Korean cherry, Manchu cherry, downy cherry, Shanghai cherry, Ando cherry, mountain cherry, Chinese bush cherry, and Chinese dwarf cherry.

<i>Crataegus crus-galli</i> Species of hawthorn

Crataegus crus-galli is a species of hawthorn known by the common names cockspur hawthorn and cockspur thorn. It is native to eastern North America from Ontario to Texas to Florida, and it is widely used in horticulture. It is thought to be the parent, along with Crataegus succulenta, of the tetraploid species Crataegus persimilis.

<i>Crataegus rhipidophylla</i> Species of hawthorn

Crataegus rhipidophylla is a species of hawthorn which occurs naturally from southern Scandinavia and the Baltic region to France, the Balkan Peninsula, Turkey, Caucasia, and Ukraine. It is poorly known as a landscape and garden plant, but seems to have potential for those uses.

<i>Deutzia gracilis</i> Plant in the hydrangea family

Deutzia gracilis, the slender deutzia or Japanese snow flower, is a species of flowering plant in the hydrangea family Hydrangeaceae, native to Japan.

<i>Crataegus pulcherrima</i> Species of hawthorn

Crataegus pulcherrima is a species of Hawthorn native to the southeastern United States. This species and those related to it that are classified in Crataegus series Pulcherrimae have been largely ignored since they were originally described in 1903, but warrant consideration as ornamental cultivated plants.

<i>Litsea glaucescens</i> Species of shrub

Litsea glaucescens, also called Mexican bay leaf, is an evergreen tree or shrub 3–6 metres (9.8–19.7 ft) high in the genus Litsea belonging to family Lauraceae. It is native from southern North America, mostly in Mexico. Distributed by Mexico and Central America.

<i>Cadaba aphylla</i> Species of flowering plant

Cadaba aphylla ("Swartstorm") is one of the many species in the genus Cadaba. It is indigenous to southern Africa.

Salix balfouriana is a shrub or small tree from the genus of willow (Salix) with reddish black and tomentose hairy young twigs and up to 8 leaf blades, rarely 18 centimeters long. The natural range of the species is in China.

<i>Itoa orientalis</i> Species of flowering plants

Itoa orientalis is a species of flowering plants belonging to the family Salicaceae. An evergreen tree from China and Vietnam, and cultivated as an ornamental tree.

<i>Andesanthus</i>

Andesanthus is a genus of flowering plant in the family Melastomataceae, native to Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela. The genus was established in 2019 for some species formerly placed in Tibouchina. Some species are cultivated as ornamental shrubs or trees.

References

  1. Proc. Rochester Acad. Sci. 4:94. 1903
  2. 1 2 "Crataegus persimilis 'Prunifolia'" . Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  3. "Trees for smaller gardens" . Retrieved 19 January 2020.