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The 'Common Hawthorn' '''Crataegus monogyna''' is a species of hawthorn native to Europe, northwest Africa and western Asia. Other common names include May, Maythorn, Quickthorn, and Haw.
It is a broadly spreading shrub or small tree 5-14 m tall, with a dense crown. The bark is dull brown with vertical orange cracks. The younger stems bear sharp thorns, 1 to 1.5cm long. The leaves are 2-4 cm long, obovate and deeply lobed, sometimes almost to the midrib, with the lobes spreading at a wide angle. The upper surface is dark green above and paler underneath.

The flowers are produced in late spring (May to early June in its native area) in corymbs of 5-25 together; each flower is about 1 cm diameter, and has five white petals, numerous red stamens, and a single style; they are moderately fragrant. Later in the year they bear numerous 'Haws'. The Haw is a small, oval dark red fruit about 1 cm long, berry-like, but structurally a pome containing a single seed. Haws are important for wildlife in winter, particularly thrushes and waxwings; these birds eat the haws and disperse the seeds in their droppings.
It is distinguished from the related but less widespread Midland Hawthorn ''C. laevigata'' in the leaves being deeply lobed, with spreading lobes, and in the flowers having just one style, not two or three. However they are inter-fertile and hybrids occur frequently; they are only entirely distinct in their more typical forms.

Contents

Uses

Folklore

References

External link

Uses

Common Hawthorn is extensively planted as a hedge plant, especially for agricultural use. Its spines and close branching habit render it effectively stock and human proof with some basic maintenance. The traditional practice of hedge laying is most commonly practiced with this species.
A number of hybrids exist, some of which are used as garden shrubs. The most widely used hybrid is ''Crataegus × macrocarpa'' (''C. monogyna'' × ''C. laevigata''; syn. ''C. × media''), of which several cultivars are known, including the very popular 'Paul's Scarlet' with dark pink double flowers. Other garden shrubs that have sometimes been suggested as possible hybrids involving the Common Hawthorn, include the Various-leaved Hawthorn of the Caucasus, which is only very occasionally found in parks and gardens.
In herbalism the active ingredients are Flowers: tannins, flavonoids, essential oil, triterpene-carbonic acids and purine derivatives. Fruits: tannins, flavonoids, pigments and vitamins. An infusion of hawthorn is used to treat various heart and circulatory problems and to support Digitalis therapy. The young leaves are good in salads. The haws are used to make wine, jelly and to add flavour to brandy. Hawthorn jelly or hawthorn flakes are used to aid the digestion of large amounts of meat in Chinese medicine.
A famous specimen, the Glastonbury Thorn, was noteworthy because it flowered twice in a year, once in the late spring which is normal, but also once after the harshness of midwinter has passed. The original specimen at Glastonbury Abbey, now long dead, has been propagated as the cultivar 'Biflora'.
The oldest known living specimen in East Anglia, and possibly in the United Kingdom, is known as "The Hethel Old Thorn",^[1] and is located in the churchyard in the small village of Hethel, south of Norwich, in Norfolk. It is reputed to be more than 700 years old, having been planted in the 13th Century.

Folklore

The warning to retain one's winter clothing until warm weather has arrived for good – 'n'er cast a clout 'til may is out' – refers not to the end of the month of May, but the emergence of the hawthorn ('may') flowers - hence its local nickname, "May Blossom".
In Gaelic folklore, hawthorn (in Scottish Gaelic, ''Sgitheach'') 'marks the entrance to the otherworld' and is strongly associated with the fairies.^[2] Lore has it that it is very unlucky to cut the tree at any time other than when it is in bloom, however during this time it is commonly cut and decorated as a May Bush (see Beltane).^[3] Hawthorn trees are often found beside clootie wells; at these types of holy wells they are sometimes known as 'rag trees', for the strips of cloth which are tied to them as part of healing rituals.^[4]
'When all fruit fails, welcome haws' was once a common expression in Ireland.

References

1. "Hethel Old Thorn" from The Wildlife Trusts, UK. Accessed 18 February, 2007
2. Campbell, John Gregorson (1900, 1902, 2005) ''The Gaelic Otherworld''. Edited by Ronald Black. Edinburgh, Birlinn Ltd. ISBN 1-84158-207-7 p.345
3. Danaher, Kevin (1972) ''The Year in Ireland: Irish Calendar Customs'' Dublin, Mercier. ISBN 1-85635-093-2 pp.86-127
4. Healy, Elizabeth (2002) ''In Search of Ireland's Holy Wells''. Dublin, Wolfhound Press ISBN 0-86327-865-5 pp.56-7, 69, 81

External link

★ Hawthorn Gallery (photographs of a number of such trees, including Hethel Old Thorn)