Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)

Identification

A small tree with thorns, white flowers, and pink anthers. Annual fruit, haws, are red berries. Flowers share a smelly chemical, trimethylamine, with that of decaying flesh.

Botany

Hawthorns will grow hundreds of years but, seeds take two winters to germinate. Leaves are edible.

Part of the plant to use

Haws (the berries)

Lore

Seen as both a protective and dangerous tree; the May tree was once a central part of the spring festivities. It symbolises rebirth and fertility; but also evokes death. Also known as pixie pears, due to the haws, the hawthorn tree is thought to be a spiritual tree of the faeries.

Colour

Light reds: cooked in alkali

Orange: cooked in weak alkali (very difficult to achieve in drought years)

Greens: cooked in alum or acids

Black and greys: add iron II sulphate

Purples: add iron II sulphate, then add baking soda.