This occasionally cultivated European species does not seem to have become truly naturalized in Ky., but there are colls. from BATH and FAYE (KY) that appear to be from self-seeded plants. The coll. from FAYE may be hybridized with phaenopyrum (J.B. Phipps, pers. comm.); rare hybrids with punctata have been reported elsewere (FNA 9). The diverse Eurasian series Crataegus is closely related to a small group of North American species: marshallii, spathulata and phaenypyrum (FNA 9). This whole group, as section Crataegus, differs from other congeners in Ky. as follows: leaves with secondary or tertiary veins running to some sinuses between the major lobes or serrations as well as the points (versus only to the points), usually lobed (versus unlobed or lobed), at maturity glabrous or nearly so (versus glabrous or pubescent); flowers mostly 7-13 cm wide (versus 12-22 mm); fruits 4-8 mm wide (versus 7-15 mm or more), or up to 9 (12) mm only in monogyna. Flowers of monogyna, like many other hawthorns, are known to emit a putrid "fishy" smell due to trimethylamine, which attracts flies (Fichtner & Wissemann 2021). However, there has been litte defintive stidy of such floral chemistry in North America.