Description of Plant

Leaf: 2-2.5 cm wide, elliptical or ovate, short pointed at tip, blunt at the base, irregularly saw-toothed with 6-8 shallow lobes. Turns orange-red in the autumn.

Flower: 2.5 cm wide with 5 white petals and 20 rose-red or pink stamens. There are few flowers on long stalks in hairless clusters in the late spring.

Fruit: 10-15 mm in diameter, often slightly angled with a whitish bloom turning a dark purple-red with many small dots and a thick sweet edible pulp. The pulp contains 5 nutlets and matures in late autumn.

Twig: Hairless and with many straight spines.

Bark: The bark is gray, scaly and thin. As the tree ages the bark becomes rough and slightly furrowed.

Form: A much branched shrub or small tree with broad, rounded, dense crown of spreading branches, large white flowers and a dark purplish-red fruit.

Discussion of the Plant

The fruits of the Frosted Hawthorn are eaten by several species of birds. The dense branching of this tree provides shelter and a nesting habitat for the birds that live in the area.

Copyright

© Sue Grabowski, Gail Slowinski, Carl Schurz High School 2003

References

Coombes, Allen, J, Smithsonian Handbook of Trees, Dorling Kindersley, London, 2002.

Little, Elbert, L., Field Guide to Trees, Alfred A. Knopf, New York. 1980.

Symonds, George, W.D., The Tree Identification Book, Quill Publishing, New York, N.Y. 1958.