code: 638
In Autumn, the bushes are heavily laden with bright red fleshy berries
Family: Rosaceae
Common name: Hawthorn, May, Mother die
Plant Classification: Hardy shrub
Minimum Height: 1.8 meters
Maximum Height: 3.6 meters
Packet Content(approx.): 8 large seeds
One of the most distinctive features of the English countryside in spring is this sweet-smelling tree or shrub which is smothered with blossom in May, hence one of its more common names. In Autumn, the bushes are heavily laden with bright red fleshy berries, much loved by birds. And for the obsessively curious it is also known as: Ske (Old Irish), Porn (Old Norse), Hag (Old English), Hagthorn, Azzy Tree, Holy Innocents’ May, Quick thorn, May-Tree, Whitethorn, White-May, Thorn-bush, Quick, Mother-die, Awes, Asogs, Azzies, Aglets, Agags, Arzy-garzies, Boojuns.
Sowing advice:
These seeds have already been thoroughly cleaned and cold-stored for several months. They should be sown into well-drained, sandy compost at any time of the year, and covered to their own depth with sand or grit. No artificial heat is needed; the seed tray is best left in a cool spot outside and kept moist. Seeds germinate very slowly indeed in the spring after a chilling in the cold compost, regardless of when they are sown. Some seeds may take more than a year to germinate.
- Deciduous tree, 20-30 ft (6-9 m); dense, rounded headed. Thrones to 2.5 cm. Leaves alternate, simple, 2-6.5 cm long, 3-7 lobed, deeply incised, glossy green. Flowers white, 8-15 mm wide, with a single style (single ovary or stone, hence monogyna , i.e., with one pistil, the female element of a flower), in clusters (umbelate). Fruit oblong, 1 cm diam., red, with a single stone (seed).
- Sun, resistant to many diseases of Crataegus, e.g. rust. The many on the Oregon State Univ. campus possibly were rootstocks for scion types that died.
- Hardy to USDA Zone 4 Native to Europe, northern Africa, western Asia. Common in the English countryside as a roadside hedge. A very similar appearing species, but much rarer commerce, is C. ambigua, Russian Hawthorn.
- Crataegus monogyna is naturalized in North America but is not common in American gardens; a few cultivars exist including a contorted version, Flexuosa.
- Can be invasive since it is a prolific seed producer and can form dense thickets which exclude all understory plants. It can hybridize with native hawthorn species such as the black hawthorn (C. douglasii) found in the west (Randall and Marinelli, 1996).
- Oregon State Univ. campus: south side Ocean Admin. Building.
