Family |
Rosaceae
Crataegus azarolus var. aronia
L.
Crataegus azarolus var. aronia L.
(Sp. Pl.: 477; 1753 – Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. CXCIV nº 2; 1969)
• Life-form & habit: Deciduous shrub or small tree up to 5–8 m tall, with a rounded crown and thorny branches; bark grey-brown, becoming fissured with age; young twigs reddish-brown, glabrous or sparsely pubescent.
• Leaves: Alternate, petiolate, 3–6 × 2–4 cm, ovate to broadly rhomboid, deeply 3–5-lobed with rounded or subacute lobes, margins serrulate; upper surface dark green and glabrous, underside paler with fine hairs along the veins.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Terminal corymbs of 5–15 flowers. Pedicels slender, slightly pubescent. Flowers 12–18 mm in diameter; sepals triangular-lanceolate, reflexed; petals white, rounded. Stamens 15–20 with purple anthers; styles 2–3. Calyx tube broadly campanulate, persistent in fruit.
• Fruit: Globose to subglobose pomes 10–15 mm in diameter, yellow to orange-red or reddish-brown when ripe, often with conspicuous dots and crowned by persistent calyx lobes; flesh mealy and sweet, edible; each fruit containing 2–3 pyrenes.
• Phenology: Flowers in April–May; fruits ripen in late summer to autumn (August–October).
• Habitat & elevation: Rocky slopes, open woodlands, and montane scrub on limestone or dolomitic soils, 600–1 700 m. Often associated with Quercus calliprinos, Acer monspessulanum, and Pyrus syriaca.
• Lebanese distribution: Common in Mount Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon — recorded by Mouterde from Broummana, Bsharré, Jezzine, Dahr el-Baïdar, and Barouk; also along valleys of the Beqaa and foothills of Jabal el-Barouk.
• Native range: Algeria, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Kriti, Lebanon–Syria, Libya, Palestine, Sicilia, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe (POWO).
• ⚠️ Taxonomic note: Crataegus azarolus var. aronia represents the eastern Mediterranean form of the azarole hawthorn, distinct from var. azarolus by its smaller, more reddish fruits and narrower, more deeply lobed leaves. Some modern treatments merge it within C. azarolus s.l., but Levantine material shows consistent intermediate characters supporting varietal recognition.