Fleshy hawthorn

Photo: Nadiatalent — Public domain · source

Survives zone 3 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 most wide-ranging hawthorn in North America, from southern Canada south to Arizona and New Mexico — a testament to how adaptable it is. Unlike several relatives here, it doesn't sucker or colonize, staying a well-behaved single clump.

Hardiness

Zone 3–8

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Sept–Oct

Mature size

1.8–6.7 m (6–22 ft), single or few-stemmed with spreading to ascending branches

Light

Full sun to part shade

Soil pH

5.5–8.0 (mildly acid to very alkaline) — unusually soil-tolerant

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Southern Canada and the United States, south to Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina and Tennessee.

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

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

Leaf shape

Broadly elliptic to diamond-shaped, 4–9 cm long by up to 7 cm wide, shallowly lobed, toothed except near the base

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, about 1 cm across, dull to somewhat shiny red, sometimes hairy

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.