Hawthorn
Irish - Sceach gheal
Ulster-Scots - Hawbush or hawtree
Family - Rosaceae
Characteristics
- Hawthorn is a small thorny shrub often found in hedgerows, but is is capable of growing to a height of 15m (45ft) if left uncut.
- Five-petaled white flowers are sometimes pink in bud and are carried in clusters between 12 and 50.
- Each flower, if fertilized, produces one fruit, or 'haw'.
- Its dense spiny branches make an excellent stock-proof barrier.
Season
- The first leaves appear in early April.
- Flowers bloom from mid-May through June.
- The haws ripen red in early autumn.
- Leaves usually fall in October or November.
- Hawthorn are said to live to up to three hundred years.
Preferred Environment
- Hawthorn is found on all but the very poorest acid soils.
- It is commonest in open scrub and hedgerows where it has been widely planted whenever land was enclosed in fields.
Wildlife Associations
- There are 149 identified insect species that are associated with the hawthorn.
- Its characteristic dense tangled crown is very popular with nesting birds.
- On grazed land, hawthorn often forms protection for other young plants which can grow up through its branches.
- The abundant and heavily scented flowers attract a wide variety of unspecialized insect pollinators, including flies, wasps and bees.
- The red fruits may stay on the branch until the following spring and are one of the most important bird fruits in Northern Ireland. They are particularly attractive to migrants such as redwings, and hawfinches as well as resident blackbirds, robins, thrushes and woodpigeons.
Uses
- For centuries haws and hawthorn flowers have been used to make a variety of jellies, wines, liqueurs and ketchups.