Description:
This is a large shrub or small tree up to 25' tall, usually with a
single trunk and a flat-topped crown. The crown has abundant twigs and
spreading branches. The short trunk is up to ¾' across; its bark is
gray, rough, and scaly. Usually there are branched thorns up to 4" long
on the trunk. Branch bark is gray, slightly rough, and thorny. Twigs
are yellowish brown, reddish brown, or gray; they are also glabrous and
white-dotted from small lenticels. Young shoots are light green,
terete, glabrous, and white-dotted from small lenticels. Both the
twigs and young shoots produce unbranched thorns up to 4" long that are
either straight or slightly curved. Alternate leaves occur along the
twigs and shoots. Individual leaves are 1¼-3" long and about one-third
as much across; they are oblanceolate or broadly elliptic (usually the
former) and finely serrated along their outer margins. Leaf bases are
narrowly wedge-shaped, while their tips are usually rounded to nearly
truncate. The leathery
leaves are pale green to dark green above (becoming more dark with
age), and pale green with
reticulated venation below; both the upper and lower sides are
glabrous. The petioles are up to ½" long, light green, and glabrous.
Corymbs (flat-headed panicles) of flowers about 2-3" across are
produced from some of the leaf axils. The branching peduncle and
pedicels of the corymbs are light green and glabrous. Each flower is up
to ½" across, consisting of 5 white spreading petals, a short green
calyx with 5 teeth, 10 stamens (rarely up to 20) with either
pale yellow or pink anthers, and a pistil with 2-3 styles. The calyx is
glabrous and its teeth are linear-lanceolate with smooth margins. The
blooming period occurs from late spring to early summer, lasting about
7-10 days. The flowers have an unpleasant scent. Fertile flowers are
replaced by globoid pomes up to ½" across that become red at maturity.
Each pome contains 1-3 seeds; its flesh is somewhat dry and bitter. The
pomes often persist into the winter. The deciduous leaves turn red or
yellow during autumn.
Cultivation: The preference is full sun,
mesic to dry conditions, and soil containing loam, clay, or rocky
material. Cockspur Hawthorn is vulnerable to hawthorn-rust and
other disease organisms.
Range
& Habitat: The native Cock-Spur Hawthorn is
occasional to locally
common in most areas of Illinois, except the NW section of the state,
where it is uncommon or absent (see
Distribution
Map).
Habitats consist
of open upland woodlands, rocky woodlands, upland savannas, thickets,
limestone glades, fence rows, areas along railroads, roadsides, and
abandoned fields. This shrub (or
small tree) is a pioneer species that colonizes open areas
where competition from other woody vegetation has been reduced.
Faunal Associations:
The nectar and pollen of the ill-smelling flowers attract a variety
insects, including honeybees, bumblebees, Halictid bee, masked bees
(
Hylaeus spp.),
Andrenid bees, Syrphid flies, Calliphorid flies, dance
flies, miscellaneous wasps, beetles, and butterflies. A variety of
insects feed on the foliage, fruit, wood, and other parts of Cockspur
Hawthorn and other hawthorns. These insects include the wood-boring
larvae of such beetles as
Agrilus
crataegi (Hawthorn Agrilus) and
Saperda fayi
(Thorn-Limb Borer); the weevil
Anthonomus
quadrigibbus
(Apple Curculio); the aphids
Carolinaia
crataegi,
Eriosoma
crataegi
(Woolly Hawthorn Aphid), and
Nearctaphis
crataegifoliae; the
leafhoppers
Erythridula
bitincta,
Erythridula
funesta, and
Erythridula
repleta; the treehopper
Glossonotus crataegi;
the plant bugs
Blepharidopterus
provancheri and
Lygidea
mendax (Apple Red Bug);
Corythucha cydoniae (Hawthorn
Lace Bug); larvae of the sawfly
Profenusa
canadensis (Hawthorn Leafminer); and the fruit-boring
larvae of
Rhagoletis pomonella
(Apple Maggot). The
Insect Table has a
more
complete list of these species. Caterpillars of the
butterflies
Satyrium
liparops (Striped Hairstreak) and
Limenitis
arthemis astyanax (Red-Spotted Purple) feed on the foliage
of
these small tree or shrubs, as do the caterpillars of such moths as
Catocala crataegi
(Hawthorn Underwing),
Choreutis
pariana (Apple
&
Thorn Skeletonizer), and
Coptotriche
crataegifoliae (see the
Moth Table
for a more complete listing of these species). Hawthorn fruits are
consumed by various birds, including the Ruffed Grouse, Robin,
Cardinal, Cedar Waxwing, and Northern Mockingbird. Because of its dense
branching structure and thorniness, Cock-Spur Hawthorn provides ideal
nesting habitat for the Brown Thrasher, Yellow-Breasted Chat, and other
songbirds. In open areas, the Loggerhead Shrike uses the thorns to
impale the smaller songbirds that are its prey.
Photographic Location: An open woodland on a bluff along
the Maumee
River in NW Ohio, and along the edge of Busey Woods in Urbana, Illinois.
Comments:
Because of its distinctive oblanceolate leaves, this is one of the
easiest hawthorns (
Crataegus
spp.) to identify. Wild forms of Cockspur
Hawthorn are exceptionally spiny, but there is a spineless form in
cultivation. At one time, this shrub (or small tree) was divided into
several species on the basis of minor differences in the floral
structure, leaf shape, thorniness, or fruiting characteristics,
but they are presently considered variations of the same species
by most authorities.