Shining hawthorn

Photo: Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz — CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Survives zone 5 through 7

Harvest calendar

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

Named for its glossy dark-green leaves, which turn orange-red in autumn — showier foliage than most hawthorns. A rare, riverine species now uncommon in the wild, largely restricted to Mississippi River floodplain forest.

Hardiness

Zone 5–7

Habit

Tree

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Sept–Oct

Mature size

6–9 m (20–30 ft) tall and wide, dense rounded form; grows as a single-trunk tree or multi-stemmed shrub

Light

Full sun to light shade

Soil pH

5.5–7.5 (mildly acid to mildly alkaline)

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas — chiefly along the Mississippi River floodplain.

Status

Wild

Years to fruit

4–6 yrs

Growth speed

Medium

Spacing

500 cm (197 in) apart — about 25 m² (269 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Elliptic to oblong-obovate, 2.5–7.5 cm long, coarsely toothed and slightly lobed, glossy dark green

Root system

A deep, strong taproot with wiry laterals, which is what makes hawthorn so wind-firm, so drought-tolerant on thin chalk, and so difficult to move once it is more than a few years old. Plant it small and leave it where it is.

Fruit description

Rounded, reddish, about 10 mm across, larger than many hawthorn fruits; persists on the tree into winter

Propagation

Seed, and slowly: the stone needs warm stratification followed by cold, and commonly sits for two winters before germinating. Named forms are grafted onto seedling hawthorn. Cuttings are not a practical route.

Pollination

Hermaphrodite and insect-pollinated. As across the genus, whether a lone tree fruits depends on ploidy, which is rarely recorded for a given plant: diploid hawthorns need a partner, while the polyploids are commonly self-compatible or apomictic.

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.