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British
Native Trees
Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna (Rosaceae)
‘May’ is the common alternative name for hawthorn, and May is indeed the month when this tough shrub or tree is seen at its glorious best, its dense mass of tangled branches and deeply-cut green leaves covered with a mantle of sweet-smelling white blossom. Hawthorns vary greatly in size, but when left uncut it usually becomes a small, rounded tree about 6 m tall, although it can grow to 15 m in height. When young, the bark on the irregular-shaped trunk is smooth greenish-grey or greenish-brown, but when mature, the trunk often develops distinct flutes and the bark is rough, slightly flaking and a darker, reddish-grey. The zigzag shoots are covered with short spines. In early April the young, bright-green leaves unfurl, each becoming dark green above and paler below, up to 5 cm long, more or less oval in shape and divided into three to seven lobes, mostly cut more than two-thirds of the way to the midrib. The showy, five-petalled, aromatic, white flowers are carried in flattish clusters, each with up to 20 pink anthers and a single style. The glossy, fleshy, single-seeded fruits, or haws, turn dark-red in the autumn. Hawthorn is common in hedgerows, woodland margins and scrub throughout England on all but the poorest soils, up to about 500 m. When clipped and laid, hawthorn was traditionally used to make thorny, stock-proof fences and it can equally make an effective, intruder-proof garden hedge with dark, tangled branches that are attractive in winter. It can also make an appealing specimen tree with year-round interest and can even be grown in a tub where it takes on an almost oriental, bonsai look. Hawthorn is extremely hardy, can be trimmed at almost any time, although after flowering or autumn are best for hedge trims. It is useful for polluted town gardens, or for exposed inland or coastal gardens. It grows in sun or semi-shade, not in dense shade, and is tolerant of all but the poorest acid soils. It can be raised from seed gathered from the berries in October and sown in a peat substitute/sand mixture in containers placed in a cold frame. Most seeds take 18 months to germinate and require storing in the moist sand mixture in a cool place before sowing in a seedbed in spring. After one or two years the young trees can be set out in their permanent sites from October to March. The dense, pinkish wood makes an excellent, slow-burning fuel and it was once used for wood-engravers’ blocks and tool handles. This is one of the most important shrubs for wildlife, providing food for 150 insect species, including Duke of Burgundy butterflies, yellow-tail moths, hawthorn shield-bugs and nectar-feeding flies, while the larvae of the small eggar form communes in webs on its leaves. Other insect visitors include beetles, leaf-hoppers and sawflies. The flowers of this ecologically important tree have a smell which is particularly attractive to flies, beetles and some other insects, but less so to butterflies and bees. Some modern cultivars with double flowers have no nectar. The nutlets in the fruit provide winter food for over 23 species of birds. From October onwards, the migratory fieldfares, redwings and waxwings arrive and feast on them when not challenged by blackbirds, mistle thrushes and song thrushes. By late winter most haws have usually been eaten. Haws are also important food for woodmice and other small mammals. The dense tangle of thorns provides a safe nesting site for smaller birds. The closely-related Midland hawthorn Crataegus laevigata differs in having less thorny stems, leaves with shallow lobes reaching less than halfway to the midrib, two styles per flower and two seeds per fruit. It is suitable for heavy soils in south east and central England and is more successful in shade than common hawthorn.
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