Dotted 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 dotted hawthorn carries the largest fruit of any hawthorn here — around 25mm, genuinely apple-like, dull-dotted and good in jelly and preserves. The horizontal branching makes it one of the more striking small trees in the genus.

Hardiness

Zone 4–8

Habit

Tree

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

October

Mature size

Tree to 10 m with a spreading, horizontally branched crown

Light

Full sun for a crop; tolerates light woodland shade

Soil pH

5.5–8.0 (mildly acid to mildly alkaline)

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Eastern North America — Quebec to Georgia and west to Minnesota and Oklahoma, in open rocky ground, thickets, pasture and rich hillsides.

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

600 cm (236 in) apart — about 36 m² (388 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Obovate, 5–7 cm long, widest near the tip and tapering gradually to the base, toothed to slightly lobed, greyish-green, with many veins running obliquely and pressed deeply into the surface — the readiest field mark for the species.

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

Rounded to pear-shaped pomes 10–25 mm across, dull red (occasionally yellow) and conspicuously speckled with pale dots, which is what the name records; the flesh stays green, hard and acid until fully ripe.

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.