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Viii. Flabellatae

Red Haw (C. Holmesiana, Ashe.)--Tall tree, 20 to 30 feet high, with stout ascending branches; head irregular and open, or compact. Thorns thick, 1 1/2 to 2 inches long, scattered far apart. Bark grey or nearly white, scaly. Leaves oval or ovate, acute or acuminate, sharply lobed and doubly serrate; thick and firm, nearly smooth, distinctly yellow-green at maturity, 1 1/2 to 2 inches long, with strong midribs and long petioles. Flowers, May, cup shaped, 1/2 to 3/4 inch across, in loose corymbs; stamens 5 to 8, anthers large, deep reddish purple. Fruits September, falling soon, crimson, oblong, 1/2 to 2/3 inch long, with reddish, incurved calyx lobes; nutlets 3, distinctly ridged, flesh mealy, acid, disagreeable. Preferred habitat, rich, moist hillsides. Distribution, Montreal to southern Ontario; coast of Maine, central and western Massachusetts, Rhode Island, western New York, eastern Pennsylvania. Largest in Worcester County, Massachusetts. Uses: Handsome tree for ornamental planting.

This is the largest hawthorn in eastern New England. Its scaly bark is often almost white. Its leaves are more distinctly yellow than green--greenish yellow, to speak accurately. The lustrous crimson fruit makes a gorgeous autumn contrast with bark and foliage.

Scattered over pasture land, these lusty young trees are cropped by cattle, which manage to avoid the infrequent thorns. By degrees, the girth of the tree widens, in spite of the pruning thus administered. The terminal shoot finally rises above the reach of any yearning tongue. It branches, and lifts above the dome-like basal part a flourishing top that grows loose and free in striking contrast to the compact close-clipped base. Many of these pasture trees have this hour-glass form.