The many colours of hawthorn

Hawthorn is one of my favourite plants. Usually during May (and hence it's alternative name of the 'May Tree'), the blossom just screams out at me and you realise just how profuse the hawthorn is!

Hawthorn blossom in May (cameraphone)

The beautiful white blossom sometimes has a tinge of pink around the edges of the flower petals, but I was surprised by the depth of colour to this one that I found on one of my dog walks...




At first I wondered if it really was hawthorn, but the leaves are a giveaway. The colour is such a deep pinky/red - I wish I had discovered it earlier so I could do something herby with the flowers, but they had just started to go past their best, however, there's always next year!

Does anyone else have more information on the pink/red flowered hawthorn? Although the leaves are very classical hawthorn, the flowers do seem to have quite a different structure from the regular one.

Comments

Lucinda said…
I think the red ones are a type of Midland Hawthorn (Crataegus laevigata) and the ones with double blossoms are a cultivar of some kind. Hope that helps!
Hawthorn said…
Thanks Lucinda for the information. The tree(s) are actually on a piece of council maintained 'green' near where I live, so I'm inclined to agree with your deduction!

Martin

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