Hawthorn

Appearance

It is an erect shrub that reaches a size of up to 1.5 m in height, with deciduous leaves, highly branched, with opposite or sub-positioned branches, thorny, glabrous. The leaves are 10-25 x 5-15 mm, with a 2-6 mm petiole, fasciculate on brachyblasts and opposite or subposed on macroblasts, obovate to widely elliptical or ovate, crenate-serrulate, acute or obtuse, glabrous. Flowers fasciculate, with a pedicel of up to 3 mm. Calyx with 4 sepals, lanceolate to triangular-lanceolate, glabrous. Corolla with 4 petals of 0.6-0.7 mm, rarely absent. Glabrous nectariferous disc. Fruits of 4.8-5.2 x 4.4-5 mm, greenish, with 2-3 pyrenes, glabrous. 4.8-5.2 mm seeds, with entire furrow.

Naming

Etymology
Rhamnus : generic name derived from an ancient Greek namefor buckthorn.
saxatilis : epithet that means "that grows between rocks".

Other common names: arto, artos, short mesto, short short buzzard, short short, dye hawthorn, rock hawthorn, Avignon grains (fruit), snakes apples.

Distribution

Central and southern Europe.

Behavior

Flowers by early summer months.

Habitat

Found in forests and bushes, rocky slopes, up to mid-mountain.