azarole

Photo: Davidbena — CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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.

Azarole is the Mediterranean hawthorn long grown for its fruit — larger and better-flavored than most wild hawthorns — which is eaten fresh, dried or preserved across Italy, Greece, Cyprus, the Levant and North Africa, though it has faded from mainstream orchard cultivation in recent generations.

Hardiness

Zone 6–9

Habit

Tree

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Summer–autumn

Mature size

Small tree 4–8 m, occasionally to 10 m, often broader than tall

Light

Full sun

Soil pH

6.0–7.0 (near-neutral)

Environment

Mediterranean

Native range

Native to the Mediterranean Basin and parts of western Asia — from southern Europe (Greece, Crete, Italy) and North Africa (Tunisia, Sinai Egypt) east through Turkey, the Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan), Iraq and Iran to Central Asia (Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan) — growing on dry hillsides and mountains, in open woodland and hedges.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

2–4 yrs

Growth speed

Medium — PFAF lists it as a medium-rate grower reaching about 10m; seedling trees take 5-8 years to begin fruiting, while grafted trees can flower heavily within about three years.

Spacing

400 cm (157 in) apart — about 16 m² (172 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Leaves are wedge-shaped at the base, roughly 4-7cm long and nearly as wide, obovate to rhomboidal in outline with three to five lobes — sometimes cut almost to the midrib — the lobe tips toothed; bright green and becoming nearly hairless above, downy beneath, with young twigs and flower clusters woolly-tomentose.

Root system

Develops a taproot when young that is later supplemented by widespread fibrous lateral roots, typical of the genus; this adaptable root system helps it tolerate poor, dry and chalky soils well.

Fruit description

A rounded pome up to about 25mm across — larger than most wild hawthorn haws — ripening yellow to orange or red depending on climate. In warm regions the flesh becomes fragrant, sugary and only mildly acid, similar to a small apple, and is eaten fresh; in cooler climates it stays more tart and is better suited to cooking into pies and preserves. Like other mayhaw-type fruits it holds up to five large seeds that tend to cluster in the center.

Propagation

Grown from seed, though like other hawthorns the hard-coated seed germinates slowly and erratically — sown fresh in autumn it usually still needs a warm period (about 3 months at 15°C) followed by cold stratification (about 3 months at 4°C), and stored seed can take 18 months or more to germinate. Growers accelerate this by harvesting seed green and sowing immediately, or by scarifying or fermenting it in its own pulp; grafting is used to bring named selections into earlier and heavier fruiting — flowering can be heavy by year three on grafted trees, versus 5-8 years from seed.

Pollination

Self-fertile, but its flowers give off an initial fishy or carrion-like smell that specifically attracts pollinating midges before mellowing to a more pleasant balsamic scent as they age.

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.