| CRATAEGUS SPECIES (HAWTHORNS) RECORDED IN FLOYD COUNTY, NORTHWEST GEORGIA, SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES |
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Bloom of Crataegus spp. L., probably Crataegus sororia Beadle, collected at Lavender Mountain, Berry College Campus, Mt. Berry, Georgia; April 18, 2009 | 
Crataegus tristis Beadle , Minute Hawthorn in the morning of April 08, 2009 after the previous night of freezing temperature. |
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Hawthorns are small to medium sized trees and bushes with thorny branches. Sometimes they also have compound thorns on the trunks. They belong to the Rosacae Family and their fruits pomes are food to many birds and mammals. Their thorny branches are also a good nesting place for the birds. Cherokees, the Native Americans tribe and privies inhabitants of Northwest Georgia used extracts of some hawthorns species for medical purposes. In the present, people find usage of hawthorns in landscaping, erosion control, herbal teas, fruit preserves, and wines.
Many hawthorns species flourish in Floyd County, because of the region’s geological characteristics. This is a region of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, with sheets of limestone, sandstone and shale, and with karst and flatwoods terrain.
Crataegus species can go through different reproduction processes. The results of those sexual and asexual breeding processes are the regional variations of the species that cause problem in species identification.
RESEARCH: In the past scientists such as Alvan W. Chapman (1809-1899), a botanist from Florida, Chauncey D. Beadle (1966-1943) and Willard W. Eggleston (1836-1935), botanists from North Carolina, and Charles S. Sargent (1841-1927), director of the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University came to Floyd County to collect, identify, and study hawthorns species. The following list includes valid Crataegus species that were once collected in Floyd County, Northwest Georgia.
In more recent times, Ron W. Lance, a hawthorn specialist and a Senior Naturalist at Balsam Mountain Preserve from North Carolina has been studying more intensively Crataegus species from Floyd County and Northwest Georgia since 2004.
SPECIES:
LOCATION:
Crataegus aemula Beadle, Rome Hawthorn
Flatwoods at the Berry College Campus, valley of the Oostanaula River (April, 2005, 2006 & 2007); McGee Band and Coosa Valley Prairie, valley of the Coosa River (Sept. 2004, April 2006, April 2008); Floyd County, GA
Forms of Crataegus berberifolia Torr. & Gray, Barberry Hawthorn
Flatwoods & Lavander Mountain, Berry College Campus;
Darlington School Campus; Black's Bluff; YMCA's "Y Camp at Glen Hollow",
Walker Mountain; Floyd County, GA
(April, 2005)
Crataegus calpodendron (Ehrh.) Medic., Pear Hawthorn,
Flatwoods, Berry College Campus, Mt.Berry, Floyd County, GA (Sept., 2004, April and September 2008)
Crataegus crus-galli L., Cockspur-Thorn
Flatwoods, Berry College Campus, Mt.Berry; Floyd County, GA (Sept., 2004, April, 2005, April and Sept. 2008)
Forms of Crataegus intricata Lange, Copenhagen hawthorn
Rome, Floyd Co., (1897;1899), Marshall Forest, Rome, Floyd County, GA (1969)
Crataegus iracunda Beadle, Stolonbearing Hawthorn
Flatwoods, Berry College Campus, Mt.Berry, GA
(April, 2005, April and Sept. 2007, April and Sept. 2008)
Crataegus marshallii Egglest., Parsley Hawthorn
Flatwoods & Lavander Mt., Berry College Campus, Mt.Berry, (April and Sept.: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008);
Silver Creek's banks (April, 2005); Marshall Forest (1969); Berry College Campus (1935-1940); Floyd County, GA
Forms of Crataegus punctata Jacq., Dotted Hawthorn
Flatwoods & Lavander Mt., Berry College Campus, Mt.Berry ; Black's Bluff;
Floyd County, GA (April, 2005)
Crataegus sargentii Beadle, Sargent's Hawthorn
McGee Band (Sept., 2004, April 2008); Black's Bluff (April, 2005); Floyd County, GA
Crataegus spathulata Michx., Littlehip Hawthorn
Flatwoods & Lavander Mountain, Berry College Campus ( April 2005, 2006 & 2007, 2008),
Berry College Campus (1940); Horseleg Mtn.,Floyd County, GA (1980'); Marshall Forest, Rome, (1969);
Crataegus triflora Chapm., Three-Flowered Hawthorn
McGee Band (Sept., 2004); Whitmore's Bluff, Lock and Dam Park,
and Black's Bluff (April, 2005, April 2006, April 2008)
Crataegus tristis Beadle, Minute Hawthorn
South Rome, valley of the Etowah River, Floyd County, GA (April, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009)
Crataegus viridis L., Green Hawthorn
Flatwoods, Berry College Campus, Mt. Berry, GA (Sept., 2004; April, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008); Berry College Campus (1940); Floyd County, GA
Crataegus vulsa Beadle, Alabama Hawthorn
Flatwoods near Gadsden, AL (1901), the valley of
the Horseleg creek, Rome, GA (1901)
Crataegus uniflora Muenchh., Dwarf Hawthorn
Marshall Forest, Rome, (1969); Berry College Campus (1940)
REFERENCES
:1. Duncan, Wilbur H., and John T. Kartesz. Vascular Flora of Georgia. An Annotated Checklist. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1981:68
2. Jones, Harold C. "Plant Ecology Of The Berry Schools Property, Floyd County, Georgia: 1940 " Diss. George Peabody College, Nashville, 1941.
3. Lance, Ron W . "The Hawthorns (Crataegus) of Georgia." Tipularia (2006): 15-39.
4. Lance, Ron. "Synopsis of Crataegus species of nw Georgia, ne Alabama, se Tennessee region." April, 2005.
5. Lipps, Emma, Lewis., and H. R. De Selm. " The Vascular Flora of the Marshall Forest, Rome, Georgia." Castanea 34 (1969) : 414-432.
6. Phipps, J.B. "Synopsis of Crataegus Series Apiifoliae, Cordatae, Microcarpae, and Brevispinae (Rosaceae Subfam. Maloideae)." Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 85. 3 (1998): pp. 487.
7. Phipps, James B., O'Kennon, Robert J., and Ron W. Lance. Hawthorns and Medlars . Portland: Timber Press, 2003.
8. Sargent, Charles S. Manual of the Trees of North America (Exclusive of Mexico) Vol.I & Vol. II New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1965.
9. USDA, NRCS. 2005. The PLANTS National Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.
10. Images by Zvezdana Ukropina-Crawford
Last updated on February 1, 2010.
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