Crataegus mendosa Beadle. Albertville Hawthorn. Phen: Apr; Sep. Hab: Mesic hardwood forests, mixed pine-hardwood forests, upland wooded hills over calcareous substrates and well-drained clays. Dist: Lower Piedmont and upper Coastal Plain of sc. SC, wc. GA, ne. and c. AL, and c. and s. MS.
ID notes: The often-obtuse leaf apex and accompanying obscure, blunt lobes and sub-crenate teeth are characteristic; the glabrous foliage coupled with 20 stamens per flower help separate this species from members of the Intricatae series.
Origin/Endemic status: Endemic
Taxonomy Comments: Allied to C. pulcherrima Ashe, and perhaps only a variant of it, C. mendosa is distributed northward and eastward beyond the bulk of the range of C. pulcherrima, and the only member of the Pulcherrimae series known to occur in SC.
Synonymy: = FNA9, K1, S, S13, Lance (2014), Phipps, O'Kennon, & Dvorsky (2006)
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