Hawthorn

Common hawthorn

Description

Any of several species of spiny shrubs from the rose family (genus Cratageus) native to Europe and North America. Hawthorns produce small red or black fruit that are used in an ink recipe written by Theophilus in De Diversis Artibus (Kuhn 1986).

Synonyms and Related Terms

Cratageus; haw; thornapple; Tjørn (Dan.); Weißdorn (Deut.); aubépine (Fr.); meidoorn (Ned.); hagtornarv (Sven.)

Other Properties

Dense shrub or hedge growing to 8 m. Bark=smooth gray brown turning darker with age. Twigs=most have 1 inch thorns. Leaves= variable ( 5-10 cm long) and serrated or lobed. Fruit= small pomes ( 0.5 cm), red when mature in fall.

Additional Information

Schoch, W., Heller, I., Schweingruber, F.H., Kienast, F., 2004:Wood anatomy of central European Species: Pomaceous Fruit:Common Hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna

Authority

• Hermann Kuhn, Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art and Antiquities, Butterworths, London, 1986

• Encyclopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com Comment: "Hawthorn." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2004. Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. 6 May 2004 .

• Website address 1 Comment: Virginia Tech Dendrology website at www.fw.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/main.htm (Accessed Dec. 9, 2005)

• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, at http://www.wikipedia.com Comment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crataegus (Accessed Dec. 9, 2005)

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998