Hawthorn
Scientific name: Crataegus monogyna Jacq.
Diagnostic features
Shrub or tree to 10(15)m.
Spines 1-2.5cm, strong to medium.
Leaves ovate to broadly so, (3)5-7-lobed 2/3 way or more to midrib, the lobes acutely serrate near apex.
Fruits subglobose to broadly ellipsoid, (6)8-10(13)mm.
Styles and nutlets 1(-2).
Chromosome number: 2n=34.
Habitat
Native; wood-borders, scrub and hedges.
Distribution
Abundant throughout British Isles. Very varied in growth-form, from procumbent shrub to erect tree.
This species is keyed out on Page 2460 in the Text Key.
Note
Some cultivated examples have pink flowers. Our plants have been referred to ssp. nordica Franco; plants of ssp. azarella (Griseb.) Franco, from South Europe, with pubescent (not glabrous or nearly so) twigs and leaves, are commonly grown in parks and gardens and occur as bird-sown escapes, but the value of these sspp. is uncertain.
Hybrids
- Crataegus x media Bechst. (= Crataegus monogyna x Crataegus laevigata) (Synonyms: Crataegus x macrocarpa auct. non Hegetschw. and Crataegus x ovalis Kitt.) is common throughout the range of Crataegus laevigata and even beyond (where the latter presumably once occurred); naturalized in Co Antrim. It is fertile and covers the whole spectrum of intermediacy.
- Crataegus monogyna x Crataegus heterophylla has arisen naturally in a wooded cemetery in Surrey with both parents and apparently backcrosses; endemic. |
