Red Haw Crataegus Mollis ILLINOIS RANGE Tree in Summer Flowers

red haw Crataegus mollis Kingdom: Plantae FEATURES Division: Magnoliophyta Red haw is also known as downy hawthorn. This Class: Magnoliopsida small, deciduous tree may attain a height of 25 feet Order: Rosales and a trunk diameter of 14 inches. Its bark is gray- brown, scaly and deeply furrowed. The gray or Family: Rosaceae brown twigs are stout and may be smooth or slightly ILLINOIS STATUS hairy. Sometimes they have spines. Buds are rounded, red-brown and hairy. The leaves are common, native arranged alternately along the twigs. Each simple leaf may be about four inches long and nearly that wide. The leaf is toothed, shallow-lobed, yellow- green and hairy above and pale and hairy below. The leafstalk may be one inch long. Flowers develop in clusters, about one inch in length. A flower has five, white petals. The fruit is nearly spherical and nearly one inch in diameter. The red, fleshy fruit is fairly dry and contains four or five nutlets.

BEHAVIORS Red haw may be found throughout Illinois, although it is more common in the northern one-half of the state. It grows in wood edges. Flowers are produced in May. Seeds are dispersed by birds and mammals, who eat the fruit but pass the undigested seeds out tree in summer with their waste material. The brown wood is heavy and hard. ILLINOIS RANGE

flowers

early summer tree in winter

Aquatic Habitats none

Prairie and Edge Habitats edge