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X. Coccineae

Scarlet Haw (C. coccinea, Linn.)--A shrubby round tree, 10 to 20 feet high, with short trunk, and stout, ascending branches. Thorns stout, shining, 1 to 1 1/2 inches long, brown. Bark dark red-brown, scaly; branches grey. Leaves elliptical or obovate, acute at both ends, serrate and acutely lobed on sides; 2 1/2 to 3 inches long; veins prominent; petioles 1 inch long, tinged with red. Flowers, May or June, in broad corymbs with downy stems; corollas 1/2 to 3/4 inch across; stamens 10, anthers small, yellow. Fruit, October, falling soon; sub-globose to oblong, 1/2 inch in diameter, deep crimson, with dark dots; calyx red, spreading; flesh sweet, dry, thin; nutlets 3 to 4, distinctly ridged on back. Preferred Habitat, well-drained soil, along low hills and banks of salt marshes. Distribution, Newfoundland to Connecticut, along the shore, and along St. Lawrence to western Quebec. Var. rotundifolia, a shrub, New England into Pennsylvania.

This scarlet thorn, the one that Linnaeus named, has very uncertain botanical and geographical limits. Those forms found west of Quebec are now excluded, and many that were counted mere varietal forms are now promoted to specific rank. These changes in classification are the result of recent studies of the genus in various regions. The true coccinea is one of the old well-known ornamental thorns, a favourite in the Northeastern States.