fireberry hawthorn

Photo: Michael Wolf — CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Survives zone 3 through 7

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Fireberry hawthorn is a cold-hardy, multi-stemmed shrub of northern North America, notable for its early-ripening, showy orange-red fruit and its status as the most common hawthorn across much of its range, including Minnesota, where it typically colonizes forest edges and open brushy ground.

Hardiness

Zone 3–7

Habit

Tree

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Summer–autumn

Mature size

Shrub or small tree 2–5 m, densely thorny

Light

Full sun to partial

Soil pH

6.0–7.0 (near-neutral)

Environment

Boreal

Native range

Native to northern and north-central North America — from Newfoundland and the Maritime provinces west across Quebec, Ontario and the Canadian prairies to British Columbia and the Rocky Mountain states, and south through New England, the Great Lakes states and the northern Great Plains to about Pennsylvania and Colorado. It is the most common Crataegus species in Minnesota, typically found at forest edges and in open grassy or brushy ground in full sun to part shade.

Status

Wild

Years to fruit

2–4 yrs

Growth speed

Slow to medium, consistent with the genus generally; it reaches its mature height of around 6m (18ft) over a period of years rather than quickly.

Spacing

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

Leaf shape

Leaves are broadly oval to obovate, up to about 4 inches (10cm) long, wedge-shaped at the base, shallowly lobed above the middle with pointed lobes and sharply toothed margins on the upper half; dark glossy green above, downy beneath especially when young.

Root system

Develops a taproot as a seedling with fibrous lateral roots forming as the plant matures, typical of the genus; well suited to rocky or streamside ground and tolerant of both moist and drier soils once established.

Fruit description

Small pomes about 1cm across, borne in small clusters, ripening yellow-orange to scarlet red — earlier in the season than most other hawthorns. The flesh has a notably pleasant flavor for a wild hawthorn and was historically used for pies, preserves, drying and as a famine food, with tea also made from the twigs and young shoots. Up to five large seeds cluster inside each fruit.

Propagation

Propagated from seed, which — like other hawthorns — has a very hard coat and a dormant embryo, making germination slow and erratic. It commonly needs about 3 months of warm stratification (around 15°C) followed by 3 months of cold stratification (around 4°C), or 90-120 days of cold stratification alone per some nursery protocols, with germination still sometimes delayed 18 months or more. Scarifying or fermenting seed in its pulp, or harvesting and sowing it green, can speed the process.

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.