BLACK HAWTHORN
crataegus douglasii

• because of their multitude of thorns (1 to 2 cm long)the English used the hawthorn to make fences to enclose cattle; the word 'hawthorn' is from the Anglo-Saxon word 'haguthorn' meaning 'fence with thorns'
• The Black Hawthorn provides good nesting and denning for birds and small mammals because of the impenetrable thickets and thorns

• The Black Hawthorn grows south of Ft. St. John
• The Black Hawthorn appears from sea level to mid elevations
• in meadowland thickets and along water courses
• areas of abundant sunlight

• The Black Hawthorn is a small tree or large shrub, often grows in a thicket
• up to 8 metres tall

• small (1 cm) clusters of yellow, red or blackish "apples" or haw
• very seedy but sweet and edible
• when ripe, whither very quickly

• appear in May and June
• white, 5 petals
• saucer-shaped
• occur in flat-topped clusters
• have an unpleasant odor

• oval, with 5 to 9 small lobes at the top
• sharp, shallow teeth
• 3 to 6 cm long
• leathery, glossy deep green on the top side when mature
• the thorns occur at the leaf exits

• reddish, brown
• few shallow fissures

• Black Hawthorn wood is strong

• modern - hedges
• traditional - wood: digging sticks, handles; thorns: pierce ears, lance boils and probe skin ulers, fish hooks; leaves, inner bark, new shoots: burned together and mixed the ashes with grease to make a black face paint