Crataegus flabellata

Crataegus flabellata, the fanleaf hawthorn, is a deciduous shrub or small tree of the rose family reaching about 6 m in height, native to northeastern North America. The branches bear stout, slightly curved thorns up to several centimetres long. The alternate leaves are broadly ovate to fan-shaped, sharply and often doubly serrate, sometimes shallowly lobed toward the apex, tapering to a wedge-shaped base, and borne on slender petioles. In late spring the plant produces flat-topped corymbs of white, five-petalled flowers about 1.5 cm across, each with numerous stamens and several styles. The fruit is a small red pome up to about 15 mm long with sweet, soft, mealy flesh enclosing a few hard nutlets. Like other hawthorns it favours open woodland margins, thickets and rocky slopes, and the species is morphologically variable, intergrading with related members of the polymorphic Crataegus aggregate.