Crataegus monogyna

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Crataegus monogyna

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Crataegus
Section: Crataegus sect. Crataegus
Series: Crataegus ser. Crataegus
Species:
C. monogyna
Binomial name
Crataegus monogyna
Distribution map
Synonyms[3]

Many, including:

  • Crataegus elegans (Poir.) Mutel[2]
  • Crataegus polyacantha Jan

Crataegus monogyna, known as common hawthorn, one-seed hawthorn, or single-seeded hawthorn, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae. It is native to Europe, northwestern Africa, and Western Asia, but has been introduced in many other parts of the world.

Names

This species is one of several that have been referred to as Crataegus oxyacantha, a name that has been rejected by the botanical community as too ambiguous. In 1793, Medikus published the name C. apiifolia for a European hawthorn now included in C. monogyna, but that name is illegitimate under the rules of botanical nomenclature.[4][5]

Other common names include may, mayblossom, maythorn, (as the plant generally flowers in May) quickthorn, whitethorn, motherdie, and haw.

Description

The common hawthorn is a

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

hermaphrodite flowers are produced in late spring (May to early June in its native area) in corymbs of 5–25 together; numerous red stamens and a single style; they are moderately fragrant. The flowers are white, frequently pink[7] pollinated by midges, bees, and other insects, and later in the year bear numerous haws. The haw is a small, oval, dark red fruit about 10 mm 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.

The common hawthorn is distinguished from the related but less widespread

Midland hawthorn
(C. laevigata) by its more upright growth, the leaves being deeply lobed, with spreading lobes, and in the flowers having just one style, not two or three. They are interfertile, however, so hybrids occur frequently; they are only entirely distinct in their more typical forms.

Distribution

Ireland and Britain[8] The mountains are very young in the Eastern Anatolian region of Turkey. Therefore, the trees in the region multiply with seeds.[citation needed]

Grazing

Due to excessive animal grazing in the area, new shoots of vulnerable Crataegus monogyna trees in the open field are eaten by animals. This does not allow them to grow and causes them to take a horizontally irregular shape on the ground.[citation needed]

A study in Wales indicted that current levels of overgrazing by sheep might extirpate the species in 60-70 years.[9]

Uses

Food

Fruits

The fruit of hawthorn, called haws, are edible raw

pomes
, but they look similar to berries. A haw is small and oblong, similar in size and shape to a small olive or grape, and red when ripe. The haws develop in groups of two or three along smaller branches. They are pulpy and delicate in taste. In this species (C. monogyna), they have only one seed, but other species of hawthorn may have up to five seeds.

Petals

The petals are also edible,

Richard II
, c. 1390.

Medicine

'Crimson Cloud' in Elko, Nevada

C. monogyna is one of the most common species used as the "hawthorn" of traditional

herbalism. The plant parts used are usually sprigs with both leaves and flowers, or alternatively the fruit ("berries").[15] Hawthorn has been investigated by evidence-based medicine for treating cardiac insufficiency.[15]

C. monogyna is a source of

phytochemicals, especially extracts of hawthorn leaves with flowers.[16]

Gardening and agriculture

Common hawthorn is extensively planted as a

fire wood, which burns with a good heat and little smoke.[17]

Numerous hybrids exist, some of which are used as garden shrubs. The most widely used hybrid is C. × media (C. monogyna × C. laevigata), 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,[citation needed] include the various-leaved hawthorn of the Caucasus, which is only very occasionally found in parks and gardens.

Culture

In pre-modern Europe, hawthorn was used as a symbol of hope, and also as a charm against witchcraft and vampires.[18] Hawthorn was believed by some to have the ability to inhibit intruding supernatural forces, and was also thought to be sacred in nature due to an association between the hawthorn bush and the crown of thorns that, according to the New Testament, was placed on Jesus.[19]

As protection against witchcraft, hawthorn was sometimes placed in the cradles of infants, or around houses and doorways.

blackthorn wood were considered effective in impaling vampires.[21]

Notable trees

An ancient specimen, and reputedly the oldest tree of any species in France, is to be found alongside the church at

Saint Mars sur la Futaie, Mayenne.[22] As of 2009, the tree had a height of 9 m (30 ft) and a girth of 2.65 m (8+12 ft). The inscription on the plaque beneath reads: "This hawthorn is probably the oldest tree in France. Its origin goes back to St Julien
(third century)"; this has not yet been verified. A famous specimen in England was the Glastonbury or Holy Thorn which, according to legend, sprouted from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea after he thrust it into the ground while visiting Glastonbury in the first century AD. The tree 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 had passed. The original tree at Glastonbury Abbey, felled in the 1640s during the English Civil War,[23] has been propagated as the cultivar 'Biflora'.[24] A replacement was planted by the local council in 1951, but was cut down by vandals in 2010.[23]

The oldest known living specimen in East Anglia, and possibly in the United Kingdom, is known as the Hethel Old Thorn,[25] 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 thirteenth century.[25]

See also

  • The hawthorn button-top gall on hawthorn is caused by the dipteran gall-midge Dasineura crataegi.
  • Folklore about hawthorns, primarily the European species C. laevigata and/or C. monogyna and hybrids between the two
  • Haweater

References

  1. . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. ^ "Mutel, Fl. Franç. 1: 358 (1834)". Archived from the original on 15 July 2023. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  3. ^ "Crataegus monogyna Jacq". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  4. .
  5. ^ "Crataegus apiifolia". International Plant Names Index.
  6. ^ "Crataegus monogyna Jacq". Bean's Trees and Shrubs. International Dendrology Society. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  7. .
  8. ^ J. E. G. Good, et al. "Distribution, Longevity and Survival of Upland Hawthorn (Crataegus Monogyna) Scrub in North Wales in Relation to Sheep Grazing." Journal of Applied Ecology, vol. 27, no. 1, 1990, pp. 272-83. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2403584. Accessed 8 February 2024.
  9. PMID 36140986
    .
  10. ^ "Crataegus monogyna". Survival and Self Sufficiency. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
  11. ^ Richard Mabey, Food for Free, Collins, October 2001.
  12. ^ "Foods of England". Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  13. p. 70
  14. ^ a b "Hawthorn", University of Maryland Medical Center: Complementary and Alternative Medicine Guide, archived from the original on 30 June 2017, retrieved 3 October 2016
  15. PMID 21554133
    .
  16. ^ "The burning properties of wood" (PDF). Scouts. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 December 2012. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
  17. ^ a b Melton 1994, p. 295.
  18. ^ a b c d e Melton 1994, p. 296.
  19. ^ Melton 1994, p. 295–296.
  20. ^ Melton 1994, p. 297.
  21. ^ "Common Hawthorn next to the church in Saint-Mars-sur-la-Futaie, Mayenne, France". Monumental trees. Archived from the original on 19 May 2023.
  22. ^ a b "BBC News – The mystery over who attacked the Holy Thorn Tree". BBC News. 4 April 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
  23. ^ Phipps, J.B.; O’Kennon, R.J.; Lance, R.W. 2003. Hawthorns and medlars. Royal Horticultural Society, Cambridge, UK.
  24. ^ a b "Hethel Old Thorn". Wildlifetrusts.org/. Archived from the original on 24 February 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2007.

Further reading

  • Melton, J. Gordon (1994). The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead. .

External links