Green hawthorn

Photo: Scott Zona — CC BY 2.0 · 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.

One of the most disease-resistant hawthorns, and nearly thornless — an easier tree to work around than most of the genus. Fruit is technically edible but usually left for the birds, who strip it through winter.

Hardiness

Zone 4–8

Habit

Tree

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Sept

Mature size

6–10.7 m (20–35 ft), dense, rounded, broad-spreading crown, largely spineless

Light

Full sun, tolerates light shade

Soil pH

5.5–7.5 (mildly acid to mildly alkaline)

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Southeastern United States — Virginia to Florida, west to Texas, and up the Mississippi River valley to Illinois.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

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

Alternate, simple, ovate to elliptic, 3–9 cm long, glossy dark green and serrate, shallowly lobed in the upper half, on notably grey stems.

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

Small, red, ripening in September and persisting on the tree well into winter

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.