Midland Hawthorn
Scientific name: Crataeguslaevigata (Poir.) DC.
Diagnostic features
Tree to 10m.
Differs from Crataegus monogyna in less stiff, less spiny twigs.
Leaves usually 3-lobed less than 2/3 way to midrib.
Styles and nutlets (1)2-3.
Chromosome number: 2n=34.
Habitat
Native; woods, often well shaded, and hedges.
Distribution
Common in Central & Southeast England, scattered West to Wales and North to North England, but extent of native area uncertain, naturalized in Southwest & Northeast Ireland.
This species is keyed out on Page 2460 in the Text Key.
Note
Most cultivars with pink or red flowers and/or flore pleno belong to this species or to Crataegus x media (see below under Hybrids) rather than to Crataegusmonogyna.
Hybrids
- Crataegus x media Bechst. (= Crataegus monogyna x Crataegus laevigata) (Synonyms: Crataegus x macrocarpaauct. non Hegetschw. and Crataegus x ovalis Kitt.) is common throughout the range of Crataegus laevigata and even beyond (where the latter presumably once occurred); naturalized in Co Antrim. It is fertile and covers the whole spectrum of intermediacy.
- See Crataemespilus(X) grandiflora (Sm.) E.G. Camus (= Mespilus germanica x Crataegus laevigata). |
