Crataegus douglasii (Black-Fruited Hawthorn) - photos and description

 

 


Leaf top side in above photo.


Leaf underside in above photo, leaf underside glabrous.

 

Origin: Native.

General: Shrub or small tree with thorns. The thorns are straight and stout, are 2-3 cm long. We measured most thorns at 2.5 cm long, with the longest being 3.2 cm long.

Flowers: Flowers in corymbs, have five petals, are white in colour. We measured flowers to 16 mm in diameter. The calyx is glabrous and the peduncles are glandular.

Leaves: Leaves alternate, oval to ovate, serrate, with glands at the apex of each serration. Leaf tops are sparingly hairy, leaf undersides are glabrous.

Height: Height listed in Budd's Flora to 6 m, the tree highlighted above was about 4 m tall.

Habitat: Open thickets and slopes in the Cypress Hills.

Abundance: Rare, ranked as an S2 (as of 2019) by the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre.

Similar species: There are two other species of Crataegus native to Saskatchewan.

    - C. chyrsocarpa is very common, can be distinguished by having longer thorns, 3-6 cm in length (Taxonomic Reminder for Recognizing Saskatchewan Plants), and leaf undersides which are pubescent (Flora of Alberta), this species can be found throughout the province.

    - C. succulenta is extremely rare (with a scarcity ranking of S1), is very similar to C. chrysocarpa, can be distinguished with teeth of leaves not gland-tipped (Budd's Flora), and leaves widest above the middle while leaves of C. chrysocarpa are widest below the middle (U of S Fraser Herbarium Crataegus Key for Species Found in Saskatchewan). When viewing a specimen in the Fraser herbarium, presence/absence of glands on leaf margins of C. succulenta was only apparent when viewed under a microscope. The herbarium has only 1 specimen of C. succulenta in its collection, collected in the extreme southeast of Saskatchewan near Oxbow.

When and where photographed: The above photos were taken May 15th and May 22nd in open thickets and hillsides in the Cypress Hills, about 425 km southwest of our home in Regina, SK.