Piper’s hawthorn

Crataegus piperi Britton, Torreya 1: 55. 1901; C. columbiana Howell var. piperi (Britton) Eggleston

Shrubs, 20–35 dm. Leaves: blade rhombic to narrowly rhombic or rhombic-elliptic, base ± cuneate, sinuses: max LII 15–20%, lobe apex acute, veins 5 or 6 per side, abaxial surface persistently rough-pubescent, adaxial appressed-pubescent, glabrescent. Inflorescences: branches ± villous. Flowers: 15–20 mm diam.; hypanthium villous; stamens 10, anthers cream to ivory, sometimes pink. Pomes ˂salmon-orange young˃, bright red, suborbicular, 10 mm diam., pubescent. 2n = 68.

Flowering May–Jun; fruiting Sep–Oct. Streamsides and washes, sagebrush, pine forests; 300–800 m; B.C.; Idaho, Mont., Oreg., Wash.

Variety piperi occurs in the intermontane region from the southern Coastal Range of British Columbia and the Cascades of Washington, to the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia and Montana, where it is widespread and locally common in suitable valley habitats.

Variety piperi has been treated frequently in the Pacific Northwest literature as Crataegus columbiana Howell; when that species was divided by floristicians into var. columbiana (glabrous) and var. piperi (hairy), the former could not be found. Crataegus columbiana was based on two different species and its recent typification, which makes it a synonym of C. douglasii, reflects this anomaly.