I'm trying to identify a tree on my property. The latest edition of "Forest Trees of Illinois" is very helpful as are some online guides, except none have very detailed descriptions with good close-up pictures. I'm having trouble distinguishing between malus ioensis (iowa crabapple) and green hawthorn. Is there a distinctive way to tell? Grayish soft bark. Leaves for both species look nearly identical. Thorns are about 1 to 1.5" long, but they are fairly sparse and only some branches have them. Thorns are slightly curved. White 5 petal flowers with a hint of pink appear in clusters in May. Flowers have a pleasant smell. Flowers don't appear to be "hairy", but I'm not sure if they mean visibly so or with a magnifying glass. Leaves are young at this point (May), but appear finely hairy only on the vein areas. 0.5" diameter fruit in the fall is red with some yellow, but quickly ripens to red. Appears to have an apple-like flesh insde with seeds. (Will have to wait until fall to confirm.)

Any help is appreciated, or any recommended books with better pictures. Thank You!

Greetings,

Well, I don't profess to be an expert in crabapples or hawthorns. Most foresters, including myself, tend to overlook some of these lesser species and thus spend little time trying to discern species within the genera malus and crataegus.

However, it appears that the small tree/shrub you've identified has "reddish" fruit. I failed to see any mention of reddish fruit for Iowa crabapple. However, if this tree in question is "native" to your property, then it might not be a green hawthorn either (if indeed the tree is native and not planted). According to the species distribution of Green Hawthorn, this species is limited primarily to southern Illinois.

Again, I don't dabble too much with crabapples or hawthorns. Therefore, you just might have to do a Google search for this tree to help with identification. Worse case scenario, you can take a sample to Morton Arboretum for positive identification.

Best of luck!