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Vi. Tenuifoliae

Haw (C. apiomorpha, Sarg.)--A pyramidal tree, 10 to 25 feet high, with short trunk. Thorns short, straight, slender, grey, 1 to 1 1/2 inches long. Bark dark grey, cracking into plates which show yellow under layer. Leaves oblong-ovate, pointed at apex, serrate almost to petiole, irregularly lobed above middle, thick, leathery, lustrous, blue-green, paler beneath, membranaceous and hairy when opening, 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches long, petioles slender. Flowers, May, in many-flowered corymbs, with hairy stems, small, white, stamens 5, anthers pink, styles 3 to 5, tufted. Fruits, September, in drooping clusters of 3 to 5; pea size, obovate, bright, red-purple; calyx large, spreading, deciduous, flesh thin acid, succulent; nutlets 3 to 5, with one low ridge on back. Preferred habitat, dry borders of woodlands. Distribution near Chicago.