Hawthorn

April 9th, 2008

Botanical Name: Crataegus oxyacantha (LINN.)
Family: N.O. Rosaceae

Synonyms: May. Mayblossom. Quick. Thorn. Whitethorn. Haw. Hazels. Gazels. Halves. Hagthorn. Ladies’ Meat. Bread and Cheese Tree.

Common names are: Bread and Cheese Tree, Hagthorn, Haw, May, Mayblossom, Mayflower, Maythorn, Maybush, Whitethorn, Quickset, Quickthorn, etc.
(French) L’Ã©pine noble
(German) Hagedorn

Name:
The name ‘Hawthorn’ comes from the Anglo-Saksen ‘Hagathorn’. Haga means hedge.
The scientific name ‘Crataegus’ comes from the Greek ‘kratos’ meaning ’strong’, which refers to the hardness of the wood. Monogyna means ‘one-pistil!
Part Used: Dried haws or fruits.
Habitat: Europe, North Africa, Western Asia. native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe,Asia and North America.

Description: They are shrubs and small trees growing to 5-15 m tall, characterized by their small pome fruit and thorny branches. The bark is smooth grey in young individuals, developing shallow longitudinal fissures with narrow ridges in older trees. The fruits are sometimes known as “haws”, from which the name derived. The thorns grow from branches, and are typically 1-3 cm long. The leaves grow spirally arranged on long shoots, and in clusters on spur shoots on the branches or twigs. The leaves themselves have lobed or serrate margins and are somewhat variable shape.

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The number of species in the genus depends on taxonomic interpretation, with numerous apomictic microspecies; some botanists recognise a thousand or more species, while others reduce the number to 200 or fewer.

Hawthorns provide food and shelter for many species of birds and mammals, and the flowers are important for many nectar-feeding insects. Hawthorns are also used as food plants by the larvae of a large number Lepidoptera species.

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The young trees have a smooth light grey bark, which turns into a grey to pinkish brown bark with dark longitudal fissures on older ones and can become really rugged on venerable trees. This gives rise to the peculiar situation that many of the branches emerging from the trunk, which still are smooth pale grey look totally different, as if they were another species grafted unto it!. If you examine these branches, or a young trunk carefully, you find that the diameter isn’t perfectly round, but slightly flattened on two sides. Small brown buds are arranged spirally along the twigs. The thorns are actually spine-tipped side branches and can be of varying length.
The leaves are a bright dark glossy green on top and attached alternately. They are variable in shape, with either 3, 5 or 7 lobes. On the Common Hawthorn the lobes reach more than halfway to the midrib and are longer than they are wide (length from 1.5 to 3.5 cm) with tuft or hairs in vein-angles on the underside of the leaf. The leaves of the Midland Hawthorn are more rounded, wider than long (length from 1.5 cm to 5 cm), not nearly so deeply lobed and have tiny teeth all around.
The tree comes early into leaf, about end March/early April, when the fresh green leaf push out the the tiny bud scales The autumn colours are brown, red and yellow depending on weather conditions, sometimes they just turn a dull brown colour before falling.

Many species and hybrids are used as ornamental and street trees. The Common Hawthorn is extensively used in Europe as a hedge plant. Several cultivars of the Midland Hawthorn C. laevigata have been selected for their pink or red flowers. Hawthorns are among the trees most recommended for water-conservation landscapes.
The Hawthorn is the badge of the Ogilvies and gets one of its commonest popular names from blooming in May. Many country villagers believe that Hawthorn flowers still bear the smell of the Great Plague of London. The tree was formerly regarded as sacred, probably from a tradition that it furnished the Crown of Thorns. The device of a Hawthorn bush was chosen by Henry VII because a small crown from the helmet of Richard III was discovered hanging on it after the battle of Bosworth, hence the saying, ‘Cleve to thy Crown though it hangs on a bush.’ The Hawthorn is called Crataegus Oxyacantha from the Greek kratos, meaning hardness (of the wood), oxcus (sharp), and akantha (a thorn). The German name of Hagedorn, meaning Hedgethorn, shows that from a very early period the Germans divided their land into plots by hedges; the word haw is also an old word for hedge. The name Whitethorn arises from the whiteness of its bark and Quickset from its growing as a quick or living hedge, in contrast to a paling of dead wood.
It possesses a single seed-vessel to each blossom producing a separate fruit, which when ripe is a brilliant red and this is in miniature a stony apple. In some districts these mealy red fruits are called Pixie Pears, Cuckoo’s Beads and Chucky Cheese. The flowers are mostly fertilized by carrion insects, the suggestion of decomposition in the perfume attracts those insects that lay their eggs and hatch out their larvae in decaying animal matter.
Cultivation:
Propagation is usually be seed, which germinates only after two years.
The stock of Hawthorn can be used to graft its own species, but has also been used for close relatives, such as the medlar and pear. The Common Hawthorn is not fussy about soil conditions and will grow in most places.

Wood:
The wood of the Hawthorn is very hard, but the trees are generally too small to be considered as a timber tree. Its heartwood is rusty brown and the outer sapwood pale brown. Many small articles were made of it, such as boxes, combs and tool handles.
An excellent excellent fuel, making the hottest wood-fire known. Hawthorn charcoal was used formerly to melt pig-iron without the aid of a blast. Hedge trimmings were widely used as bundles of faggots to light bread ovens.
General Uses:
Since Ancient times Hawthorn has been used as a hedgeplant. Young Hawthorn grow fast with many thorny branches and side-shoots and will make an excellent stockproof hedge.

*In former days when Chinese, Indian and Ceylon tea were expensive luxuries young Hawthorn leaves were sometimes used as an ‘adulterant’ for tea.

*Liqueur made with the berries in Brandy (Grieve)

*Food for free: Hawthorn tops pudding

*Levi: “The leafy buds re eaten as a tonic salad. The flowers are also edible, sprinkled on fruit salads, junkets and custards. The fruits are edible and tonic, eaten raw (though rather astringent in the mouth). They make good conserves and fermented make a strong wine.”

The berries are not particularly tasty, nor do they taste unpleasant. They have a fresh fruity mealy taste. They make a good healthy addition to a hedgerow jam.

The leaves have been used as an adulterant for tea. An excellent liquer is made from Hawthorn berries with brandy.

Formerly the timber, when of sufficient size, was used for making small articles. The root-wood was also used for making boxes and combs; the wood has a fine grain and takes a beautiful polish. It makes excellent fuel, making the hottest wood-fire known and used to be considered more desirable than Oak for oven-heating. Charcoal made from it has been said to melt pig-iron without the aid of a blast.

The stock is employed not only for grafting varieties of its own species, but also for several of the garden fruits closely allied to it, such as the medlar and pear.

Constituents: In common with other members of the Prunus and Pyrus groups of theorder Rosaceae, the Hawthorn contains Amyddalin. The bark contains the alkaloid Crataegin, isolated in greyish-white crystals, bitter in taste, soluble in water, with difficulty in alcohol and not at all in ether.

Medicinal Action and Uses:Medicinally the Hawthorn is used as a herb to help lower blood pressure and to treat some related heart diseases.

Cardiac, diuretic, astringent, tonic. Mainly used as a cardiac tonic in organic and functional heart troubles. Both flowers and berries are astringent and useful in decoction to cure sore throats. A useful diuretic in dropsy and kidney troubles.

Preparation and dosage: Fluid Extract of Berries, 10 to 15 drops.
Other Species:
C. Aronia is a bushy species giving larger fleshy fruit than C. Oxyacantha. It is indigenous to Southern Europe and Western Asia and is common about Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, where its fruit is used for preserves.

C. odoratissima is very agreeable also as a fruit.

C. Azarole. Its fruit in the same way is highly esteemed in Southern Europe.

Fun and interesting fact: In Celtic lore, the hawthorn plant was used commonly for rune inscriptions along with Yew and Apple. It was once said to heal the broken heart.

Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crataegus
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/h/hawtho09.html
http://www.babiesonline.com/flowersbirthmonth/hawthorn.asp
http://www.the-tree.org.uk/BritishTrees/TreeGallery/hawthornc.htm