Blackthorn
Scientific name: Prunus spinosa L.
Diagnostic features
Deciduous, dense, spiny shrub to 4m.
Leaves obovate to oblanceolate, 1-3(4)cm, ± pubescent.
Flowers appearing before leaves, 1(-2).
Petals white.
Fruit nearly globose, 8-15mm, bluish-black with dense bloom, with not or scarcely flattened stone.
Chromosome number: 2n=32.
Habitat
Native: hedges, scrub and woods.
Distribution
Common almost throughout British Isles.
This species is keyed out on Page 2326 in the Text Key.
Hybrids
- Prunus x fruticans Weihe (= Prunus spinosa x Prunus domestica) occurs in hedges sporadically throughout England; it is intermediate, fertile and variable. Prunus spinosa var. macrocarpa Wallr. probably belongs here. |
