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Crataegus mollis; photograph (c) Jeff Hansen, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Jeff Hansen, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-06-03

Crataegus mollis (Torr. & A.Gray) Scheele

Downy hawthorn; Red hawthorn; Downy haw; Red haw

Rosaceae · Ontario, Illinois +19

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Crataegus mollis, photograph (c) Jeff Hansen, some rights reserved (CC BY)Crataegus mollis, photograph (c) Jeff Hansen, some rights reserved (CC BY)Crataegus mollis, photograph (c) Jeff Hansen, some rights reserved (CC BY)Crataegus mollis, photograph (c) Jeff Hansen, some rights reserved (CC BY)Crataegus mollis, photograph (c) Jeff Hansen, some rights reserved (CC BY)Crataegus mollis, photograph (c) Jeff Hansen, some rights reserved (CC BY) 137 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-15.2°C
Record low -24.4 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
29°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
989mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
11–41DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Crataegus mollis, known as downy hawthorn or red hawthorn, is a species of plant that occurs in eastern North America from southeastern North Dakota east to Nova Scotia and southwest to eastern Texas. The range of this species is from southern Ontario and Michigan to eastern North Dakota and southward to Denison, Texas, and Arizona. This tree inhabits wooded bottomlands, the prairie border, and the midwest savanna understorey.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Crataegus mollis", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Crataegus

Crataegus, commonly called hawthorn, quickthorn, thornapple, May-tree, whitethorn, Mayflower or hawberry, is a genus of several hundred species of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Asia, North Africa and North America. The name "hawthorn" was originally applied to the species native to northern Europe, especially the common hawthorn C. monogyna, and the unmodified name is often so used in Britain and Ireland. The name is now also applied to the entire genus and to the related Asian genus Rhaphiolepis.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Crataegus", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (761 mm of 996 mm) takes 8 months, April to November. Mean temperature moves 26.9 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to May.

Rain

996 mm in the median year at the habitat, 761 mm of it April to November. Wettest month May at 114 mm, driest month January at 52 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 850 mm to 1,208 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 989 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 996 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 11 to 41 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 9, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -15.2 °C, the absolute minimum -24.4 °C, 5,173 frost nights in 44 years, 117.6 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -6.6 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -10.6 °C to 3.8 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 28.7 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -15.2 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 55 to 61% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -6 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Crataegus mollis through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 29 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low -6.6 °C; 996 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost30.3° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-24.4° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 11–41RH 55–61%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 573 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C1 / -2–144 / 0–1610 / 5–2117 / 12–2522 / 18–2927 / 24–3229 / 27–3428 / 26–3424 / 22–3118 / 14–2611 / 7–193 / 0–14
Night °C-7 / -11–4-5 / -9–60 / -4–106 / 3–1412 / 9–1917 / 15–2320 / 18–2419 / 17–2415 / 13–219 / 7–153 / 0–10-4 / -8–5
Rain mm52 / 26–8353 / 31–7667 / 50–9792 / 75–110114 / 91–144111 / 92–139104 / 78–12293 / 70–11588 / 75–11080 / 68–11279 / 53–10263 / 37–93
DLI13 / 12–1819 / 18–2326 / 26–2933 / 32–3538 / 37–3941 / 40–4241 / 40–4336 / 34–3929 / 27–3321 / 18–2614 / 11–1911 / 9–17
RH %61 / 58–6460 / 57–6257 / 55–5955 / 55–5757 / 55–5957 / 57–5958 / 56–5959 / 55–6058 / 56–6057 / 56–5959 / 57–6161 / 58–63
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 573 grid cells holding the 755 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 958:1938 (42.075, -83.075). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -24.4 °C, 1st-percentile night -15.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.3 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 573 distinct grid cells holding 755 of the 755 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 958:1938 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 42.00_-83.125, lapse-corrected -6 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 178 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeOntario, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee · introduced: Baltic States · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker42.732, -88.237 · in the densest population, 376 records (34% of those in range)
Kew's description“tree” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1115 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 755 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 567 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 643 km away. 78 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 360 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 1115 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Crataegus mollis, photograph 1did not loadCrataegus mollis, photograph 2did not loadCrataegus mollis, photograph 3did not loadCrataegus mollis, photograph 4did not loadCrataegus mollis, photograph 5did not loadCrataegus mollis, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Jeff Hansen, some rights reserved (CC BY) (6).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Asclepias sullivantii Asclepias sullivantii Prairie milkweed Photo: CC0, author not statedPenstemon digitalis Penstemon digitalis Foxglove beardtongue Photo: CC BY, Tom NortonEupatorium altissimum Eupatorium altissimum Tall thoroughwort Photo: CC0, author not statedDodecatheon meadia Dodecatheon meadia Common shootingstar Photo: CC0, Anthony A SimmonsTrillium recurvatum Trillium recurvatum Bloody butcher Photo: CC BY, Ryan SorrellsCarex molesta Carex molesta Troublesome sedge Photo: CC BY, Tom Scavo

Other Crataegus 80 in the reference

Crataegus aestivalis Crataegus aestivalis May hawthorn Photo: CC BY, Pam KleinsasserCrataegus ambigua Crataegus ambigua Russian Hawthorn Photo: CC BY, Jared ShormaCrataegus apiifolia Crataegus apiifolia Parsley hawthorn Photo: CC BY, Caroline KaneCrataegus aprica Crataegus aprica Sunny hawthorn Photo: CC BY, Kristály Cravens-LiszakCrataegus azarolus Crataegus azarolus Azarole Photo: CC BY, Louis AuregliaCrataegus berberifolia Crataegus berberifolia Barberry hawthorn Photo: CC BY, sblumenCrataegus calpodendron Crataegus calpodendron Pear hawthorn Photo: CC BY, Ryan Sorrells Crataegus × canescens Rosaceae Crataegus chlorocarpa Crataegus chlorocarpa Rosaceae Photo: CC BY, Alexander DubyninCrataegus chlorosarca Crataegus chlorosarca Rosaceae Photo: CC BY, Tatyana PetrenkoCrataegus chrysocarpa Crataegus chrysocarpa Fireberry hawthorn Photo: CC BY, Charlie Pavlisich Crataegus chungtienensis Rosaceae all 81 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Crataegus acerifolia var. sera; Crataegus albicans; Crataegus arkansana; Crataegus arkansana subsp. dumetosa; Crataegus arkansana var. dumetosa and 41 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Rosaceae
Described by
(Torr. & A.Gray) Scheele
Native to
Ontario, Illinois, Iowa +18
Wild records
1115 in range · 567 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 166 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (122 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 9 at a herbarium, 35 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 42.00_-83.125, lapse-corrected -6 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Crataegus mollis (Torr. & A.Gray) Scheele (the item's: IPNI 30033117-2, POWO 723817-1)
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 88 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…