Common Hawthorn

Crataegus monogyna

Family Rosaceae
Other names Whitethorn, May Tree and many local names. A popular name is "Bread and Cheese Tree", referring to the eating of young leaves as a delicacy.

Many superstitions are attached to this very common tree which we see everywhere in woods, hedges, parks, etc. It grows throughout Great Britain, reaching a height of 1800 feet in upland areas. It can be recognised by its rough bark when old (smooth when young), its sickly smell and the presence of one stone in the 'haw'. White blossom in May.

Common Hawthorn is very shade tolerant and grows in the understorey of woodlands. The Enclosure Acts made Common Hawthorn a favourite tree to enclose fields. It has been estimated that we now have a quarter of a million miles of hawthorn hedging in this country.

Known by its seed to have existed before the last Ice Age. It was an early colonizer of open grounds and woodlands, arriving about 9,500 years ago when birds were again nesting in Britain.

The famous "Glastonbury Thorn" is a form of the Common Hawthorn which flowers and has leaves twice in a season, once round about Christmas and then in May. Known as "Biflora" or "Praecox" in commerce, and is always grafted on to Common Hawthorn.

Photography courtesy of Peter Wells at Barcham Trees.