Downy hawthorn

Photo: Nadiatalent — Public domain · source

Survives zone 4 through 8

Harvest calendar

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

The downy hawthorn carries the biggest fruit of the North American haws grown here — 20–25mm, thick-fleshed, sub-acid and mealy rather than juicy. Poor fresh, very good as jelly or preserve, and easy to gather in quantity.

Hardiness

Zone 4–8

Habit

Tree

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

September

Mature size

Broad tree to 9 m tall and 12 m across, medium growth rate

Light

Full sun for a crop; tolerates light woodland shade

Soil pH

5.5–8.0 (mildly acid to mildly alkaline) — frequent on limestone

Environment

Woodland

Native range

Eastern and central North America — Ontario south to Alabama and west to Oklahoma, in open woods on alluvial or fertile soils, frequently over limestone.

Status

Wild

Years to fruit

5–8 yrs from seed; grafted trees often flower heavily in their third year

Growth speed

30–60 cm/year — medium, the 12–24 in/year quoted across the genus.

Spacing

700 cm (276 in) apart — about 49 m² (527 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Broadly egg-shaped to nearly round, the largest leaves in the genus here at up to 10 cm, with several shallow pointed lobes and a densely soft-hairy underside, especially along the veins — the hairiness that gives it the name downy hawthorn.

Root system

Seedlings put down a distinct taproot early, which is why nurseries lift them after a single year in the seedbed; established trees add a tough, wide-spreading lateral network and transplant badly once mature.

Fruit description

Round pomes 12–25 mm across — large for a hawthorn — ripening dull scarlet to crimson with soft, mildly sweet flesh; among the better species in the genus for jelly and preserves.

Propagation

Seed is slow and stubborn — the stony nutlets need roughly three months warm stratification followed by three months cold at about 4°C, and untreated seed can sit for two winters before moving. Named forms are budded or grafted onto seedling hawthorn rootstock instead, which also brings fruiting forward by several years.

Pollination

Depends on ploidy, which is rarely known for a given plant: diploid hawthorns are self-INCOMPATIBLE and need a second tree, while the many polyploid (triploid/tetraploid) species are self-compatible and largely apomictic, setting seed from a lone tree without cross-pollination. C. crus-galli is among the self-compatible polyploids. Insect-pollinated, chiefly by flies and beetles drawn to the heavy scent. ⚠ Since you usually cannot tell which you have, plant more than one if fruit is the point.

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.