Native & Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas & Georgia

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2827

Shrub; Tree
Perennial

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia

Documented growing wild in GA NC SC

Uncommon in GA-SC, rare in NC (endemic)

Look for it in oak-pine scrub and sandy uplands, per Weakley's Flora

map
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IS THE PLANT "ARMED"?
Armed with abundant nodal thorns > 3cm long (present at nearly every node)

LEAVES:
Deciduous
Simple
Alternate
Petioles 5-10mm, distinctly glandular, sometimes winged for half+ its length

FLOWER:
Spring
White
Radially symmetrical
5-lobed calyx
5 petals
Usually 20 stamens (anthers usually white or yellow)
Inferior ovary
Inflorescences of 3-5 flowers

FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Orange-red
Pome

 

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!



Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Rosales
Series: Lacrimatae

WEAKLEY'S FLORA (10/20/20):
 Crataegus lassa var. colonica   FAMILY Rosaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America
 Crataegus colonica

SYNONYMOUS WITH Haws: A Guide to Hawthorns of the Southeastern US (Lance, 2014)
 Crataegus lassa var. colonica

SYNONYMOUS WITH Beadle in Flora of the Southeastern US (Small, 1913)
 Crataegus colonica

 

COMMON NAME:
 Colony Hawthorn, Bluffton Hawthorn

Click or hover over the thumbnails to see larger pictures.

image of Crataegus lassa var. colonica, Colony Hawthorn, Bluffton Hawthorn

Ron Lance    rwlcintegra_vcolonica

August-September    Aiken County    SC

Leaves with few marginal serrations. Fruit pyriform, orange-red, 10-13mm, per Haws: A Guide to Hawthorns of the Southeastern US.

image of Crataegus lassa var. colonica, Colony Hawthorn, Bluffton Hawthorn

Ron Lance    rwlcmunda_vpexa

September        FL

Morphology suggests an intermediate between C. lassa var. lassa and C. pexa, per Weakley's Flora (2020).