Quebec 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 Quebec hawthorn is among the most practical of the haws to pick: fruit about 20mm with thick, sweet, reasonably juicy flesh and a nice flavour, carried in large clusters that come off easily by the handful.

Hardiness

Zone 4–8

Habit

Tree

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

September

Mature size

Tree to 7 m tall and as much across

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

North-eastern North America — Quebec to Ontario, Massachusetts and New York, on wooded hillsides and open fertile ground.

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

Egg-shaped and softly hairy like downy hawthorn but more obscurely lobed, the teeth minutely gland-tipped and the leaf stalks sometimes carrying a few reddish glands.

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

Pear-shaped to rounded pomes 12–20 mm across, ripening bright to dull red with soft flesh; the flowers behind them carry only 7–10 stamens, one of the marks separating it from downy hawthorn.

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.