| Author | Beadle | |
| Distribution | The southern Mountains, and likely the adjacent southwestern Piedmont foothills. Poorly known, as this is a recently split species (from C. flabellata). Though the range is not well known and it is poorly collected, the county map below at least shows the general range in the state as is currently understood.
This has a very small range in the vicinity of the corner of NC, SC, and GA. According to Weakley (2018), it ranges barely into eastern TN and northern AL.
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| Abundance | Lance (2014) calls it “uncommon” in NC, and Weakley’s map shows it as rare in both the Mountains and the Piedmont. This website gives a temporary S2? state rank, as the species is not in the NC NHP database. | |
| Habitat | This is an upland species, of rock outcrop margins, edges of dry and exposed or rocky woods, and other dry places in partial sun. |
| Phenology | Blooms in April and May, and fruits from August to October. | |
| Identification | This is a tall shrub, rarely a small tree, with relatively small leaves, barely 1.5-2 inches long and somewhat less wide. The leaf shape is a rather typical ovate shape with distinct teeth along the outer margins (but not near the base). This is part of the “Intricate Hawthorn” complex that was split off from C. flabellata. Weakley (2018) states that it is “distinguished primarily by purplish anthers, glandular-serrate calyx lobes, russet fruit and small (3-6 cm long × 2-4 cm wide) leaves with blunt lobes”. In all likelihood, most people will not be able to identify this species in the field and will need to snatch a branch for keying out later. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | Though described as early as 1901, in general it was subsumed within the obviously “bloated” C. flabellata until recently, including in RAB (1968). Both Lance (2014) and Weakley (2018) consider this a good species, though closely related to C. intricata.
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| Other Common Name(s) | None | |
| State Rank | [S2?] | |
| Global Rank | GNR | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
