Photo: Robert H. Mohlenbrock. USDA SCS. 1991. Southern wetland flora: Field office guide to plant species. South National Technical Center, Fort Worth. Courtesy of USDA NRCS Wetland Science Institute. — Public domain · source
Survives zone 6 through 9
Harvest calendar
Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.
Eastern mayhaw is a swamp-dwelling small tree of the southeastern US coastal plain, often flowering and fruiting while standing in seasonally flooded ponds and river bottoms alongside bald cypress and tupelo. Its tart, cherry-red haws are the basis of a long-standing Southern tradition of mayhaw jelly, still commercially harvested and sold across Louisiana, Georgia and the Gulf states.
- Hardiness
- Zone 6–9
- Habit
- Tree
- Edible part
- Fruit
- Ripens
- Summer–autumn
- Mature size
- Small tree 5–8 m with a spreading crown
- Light
- Full sun to partial
- Soil pH
- 6.0–7.0 (near-neutral)
- Environment
- Wetland
- Native range
- Native to the coastal plain of the southeastern United States — from southeastern Virginia and North Carolina south to Florida and west to Mississippi and Louisiana — where it grows in swamp forests, seasonally flooded depressions and pond margins, often standing in water for much of the year alongside Taxodium distichum and Nyssa species.
- Status
- Both wild and cultivated
- Years to fruit
- 2–4 yrs
- Growth speed
- Slow to medium — extension sources describe mayhaw as a slow-to-medium grower that reaches full maturity in about 5 to 10 years; grafted trees can bear fruit within 2-4 years while seedlings may take 5-7 years.
- Spacing
- 550 cm (217 in) apart — about 30 m² (326 sq ft) per plant
- Leaf shape
- Leaves are 2-4 inches (5-10cm) long, dark green, oval to wedge-shaped at the base, often shallowly three-lobed with toothed margins, and reddish-brown along the underside veins.
- Root system
- Like other hawthorns, develops a taproot as a seedling that is supplemented by wide-spreading fibrous roots at maturity; tolerant of both seasonally saturated swamp soils and, once established, periods of drought.
- Fruit description
- A small pome about 2cm across, ripening bright red in late spring — hence the name, from 'May haw'. The flesh is juicy and acidic with a pleasant flavor, containing up to five seeds that often cluster together in the center. It is used almost exclusively for jelly, syrup and preserves rather than eaten fresh, since its tartness is more pronounced than azarole or garden fruit.
- Propagation
- Propagated mainly from seed, though hawthorn seed is notoriously slow and erratic to germinate — the hard seed coat and dormant embryo typically require about 3 months of warm stratification (around 15°C) followed by 3 months of cold stratification (around 4°C), and germination can still take 18 months or more from stored seed. Growers speed this up by harvesting seed green — before the coat hardens — and sowing it immediately, or by scarifying or fermenting seed in its own pulp; commercial mayhaw selections are also propagated by grafting onto seedling rootstock.
- Pollination
- Self-fertile
The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.
Growing guide
Fertilizing. Extension guidance for mayhaw orchards recommends about 1/4 lb of 10-10-10 fertilizer applied in March, May and July during the first year, then roughly 1/2 to 1 lb per inch of trunk diameter — up to about 5 lb — for established trees, applied in early spring and early summer and kept at least 8 inches from the trunk to avoid root burn.
How it spreads. Grows as a small single- or multi-trunked thorny tree rather than a suckering colonizer. Like other Crataegus, it hybridizes readily with related mayhaw and hawthorn species — a genus-wide trait that has long complicated the taxonomy of this group.
Growing tips. Prized commercially and by home growers for mayhaw jelly, a traditional delicacy across the Deep South and Gulf Coast — the tart, juicy fruit is harvested in late spring, often from flooded swamp stands. Like other hawthorns it is an alternate host for cedar-quince and cedar-apple rust (Gymnosporangium spp.), which can disfigure fruit with white, tube-like projections, and it is susceptible to fire blight and hawthorn leaf blight; thorny branches — 1-2 inch (2.5-5cm) thorns on older wood — call for careful placement away from foot traffic. It tolerates standing water and, once established, drought, and fruits best in full sun.
Companion planting. Rosaceae host for cedar-apple/hawthorn rust (Gymnosporangium spp.), which needs both a Rosaceae host and a Juniperus (juniper/eastern red cedar) host to complete its life cycle. Spores can travel over a mile, so distance alone won't fully prevent it — resistant cultivars are the more reliable control, but avoiding nearby junipers helps.
Grow journal
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