Rosaceae, the rose family, is a medium-sized family of flowering plants, including 4,828 known species in 91 genera.
Crataegus, commonly called hawthorn, quickthorn, thornapple, May-tree, whitethorn, 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.
Crataegus monogyna, known as common hawthorn, oneseed hawthorn, or single-seeded hawthorn, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae. It is native to Europe, northwest Africa and West Asia but has been introduced in many other parts of the world.
Mespilus germanica, known as the medlar or common medlar, is a large shrub or small tree, and the name of the fruit of this tree. The fruit has been cultivated since Roman times, and is unusual in being available in winter, and in being eaten when bletted. It is eaten raw and in a range of dishes. When the genus Mespilus is included in the genus Crataegus, the correct name for this species is Crataegus germanica (Kuntze).
Crataegus mollis, known as downy hawthorn or red hawthorn, occurs in eastern North America from southeastern North Dakota east to Nova Scotia and southwest to eastern Texas. The range of this species is from southern Ontario and Michigan to eastern North Dakota and southward to Denison, Texas, and Arizona. This tree inhabits wooded bottomlands, the prairie border, and the midwest savanna understorey.
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.
The name Crataegus oxyacantha L. has been rejected as being of uncertain application, but is sometimes still used.
Crataegus arborea, the Montgomery hawthorn, is a North American species of hawthorn, native to the eastern United States. It is a shrub or small tree.
Crataegus arcana, the Carolina Hawthorn, is a rare and poorly known species of hawthorn in the rose family. It grows as a shrub or tree and is endemic to the eastern United States in North America. It is thought to be allied with series Pruinosae.
Crataegus azarolus is a species of hawthorn known by the common names azarole, azerole, and Mediterranean medlar. It is native to the Mediterranean Basin and is a common plant there, growing on sites comparable to those the European common hawthorn grows on. In the Arab countries it is the commonest of the hawthorn species. When growing in the wild the azerole bears plentiful crops of haw fruits, which are similar to the haws of the European common hawthorn, but plumper.
Crataegus marshallii is a species of hawthorn known by the common name parsley hawthorn. It is native to the southeastern United States.
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.
Crataegus coccinea, the scarlet hawthorn, is a species of hawthorn around which there is considerable confusion because the name has been misapplied for a long time. It has been shown to be the same as C. pedicellata, and under the rules of botanical nomenclature, the older name should be used.
Crataegus songarica is an Asian species of hawthorn with black fruit that is sometimes used medicinally. It is closely related to Crataegus ambigua, a species that has red fruit.
Section Sanguineae is a section within the genus Crataegus native to central and eastern Europe and parts of Asia. It includes about 20 species and three series.
Willard Webster Eggleston was an American botanist, employed by the United States Department of Agriculture Bureau of Plant Industry. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1891 with a Bachelor of Science degree. In his work on the taxonomy of Crataegus, now known to be complicated by apomixis, polyploidy, and hybridization, he aimed to simplify, counteracting the proliferation of species names that other botanists had produced.
Crataegus meyeri is a species of hawthorn found in Belarus, European Russia, Ukraine including Crimea, Anatolia, the Transcaucasus, Iraq and Iran. Trees, they are found in scrubby areas and forest openings on drier mountain slopes, typically in association with Quercus. A 2014 molecular and morphological study reduced Crataegus ucrainica and Crataegus × yosgatica to synonyms of Crataegus meyeri.
Crataegus ucrainica is a putative species of hawthorn found in Ukraine. A 2014 molecular and morphological study reduced it to a synonym of Crataegus meyeri.
Crataegus × yosgatica or Crataegus yosgatica is a putative hybrid species of hawthorn. It was thought to be a cross between Crataegus monogyna and C. tanacetifolia. A 2014 molecular and morphological study reduced it to a synonym of Crataegus meyeri.
Crataegus pseudoheterophylla is a species of hawthorn found in Anatolia, the Transcaucasus, Iran and Afghanistan. They are trees or shrubs that are typically found on scrubby mountain slopes.
