Crataegus, commonly called hawthorn, quickthorn, thornapple, May-tree, whitethorn, Mayflower or hawberry, is a genus of several hundred species of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Asia, North Africa and North America. The name "hawthorn" was originally applied to the species native to northern Europe, especially the common hawthorn C. monogyna, and the unmodified name is often so used in Britain and Ireland. The name is now also applied to the entire genus and to the related Asian genus Rhaphiolepis.
Crataegus monogyna, known as common hawthorn, one-seed hawthorn, or single-seeded hawthorn, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae. It is native to Europe, northwestern Africa, and Western Asia, but has been introduced in many other parts of the world.
Crataegus heterophylla, known as the various-leaved hawthorn, is of uncertain origin. Its original native range is not known, possibly it was the Caucasus of Western Asia. Suggestions that it originated in Southeast Europe may be based on misidentification.
Crataegus laevigata, known as the Midland hawthorn, English hawthorn, woodland hawthorn, or mayflower, is a species of hawthorn native to western and central Europe, from Great Britain and Spain east to the Czech Republic and Hungary. It is also present in North Africa. The species name is sometimes spelt C. levigata, but the original orthography is C. lævigata.
Crataegus douglasii is a North American species of hawthorn known by the common names black hawthorn and Douglas' thornapple. It is most abundant in the Pacific Northwest.
The name Crataegus oxyacantha L. has been rejected as being of uncertain application, but is sometimes still used.
Crataegus azarolus is a species of hawthorn known by the common names azarole, azerole, and Mediterranean medlar. It is native to the Mediterranean Basin and is a common plant there, growing on sites comparable to those the European common hawthorn grows on. In the Arab countries it is the most common hawthorn species. When growing in the wild, the azerole bears plentiful crops of haw fruits, which are similar to the haws of the European common hawthorn, but more plump.
Crataegus crus-galli is a species of hawthorn known by the common names cockspur hawthorn and cockspur thorn. It is native to eastern North America from Ontario to Texas to Florida, and it is widely used in horticulture. It is thought to be the parent, along with Crataegus succulenta, of the tetraploid species Crataegus persimilis.
Crataegus × dsungarica is a hawthorn that is a hybrid between C. songarica in C. sect. Crataegus and C. wattiana in C. sect. Sanguineae. It has been placed in nothosection Crataeguineae. It has blackish purple fruit.
Crataegus orientalis, known as oriental hawthorn, is a species of hawthorn native to the Mediterranean region, Turkey, Caucasia, Crimea, and western Iran, with fruits that are orange or various shades of red.
Crataegus pentagyna, also called small-flowered black hawthorn, is a species of hawthorn native to southeastern Europe. Two subspecies are recognized, C. p. subsp. pentagyna and C. p. subsp. pseudomelanocarpa. The fruit are usually black, but are sometimes a handsome purple.
Crataegus wattiana, the Altai hawthorn, is an Asian species of hawthorn. The original description states that it has yellow fruit with five stones (pyrenes). Crataegus wattiana var. wattiana has become naturalized in Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington.
Crataegus × media, is a hybrid between two species in the genus Crataegus (Hawthorn), C. monogyna and C. laevigata, both in series Crataegus. Under the rules of botanical nomenclature the name C. × media covers all intermediate forms between the two parent species, including backcrosses.
Crataegus mexicana is a species of hawthorn known by the common names tejocote, manzanita, tejocotera and Mexican hawthorn. It is native to the mountains of Mexico and parts of Guatemala, and has been introduced in the Andes. The fruit of this species is one of the most useful among hawthorns.
Crataegus × macrocarpa, is a hybrid between two species of Crataegus (hawthorn), C. laevigata and C. rhipidophylla, both in series Crataegus. A chemotaxonomic investigation comparing flavonoid patterns in C. × macrocarpa and its putative parent species corroborated their supposed relationship. It is sometimes confused with C. × media, the hybrid between C. monogyna and C. laevigata.
Crataegus × sinaica is a hawthorn that originated as a hybrid between two other hawthorn species, C. azarolus in series Orientales and C. monogyna in series Crataegus. It has been placed in the nothosection Orientaegus. It grows in the central and eastern parts of the Mediterranean region on rocky mountain slopes. In Egypt it grows in the mountains near Saint Catherine in South Sinai, where it is known as za'rur or za'rur al-awdiyah.
Phyllonorycter oxyacanthae is a moth of the family Gracillariidae found in all of Europe except the Balkan Peninsula. It was described by the German-born Swiss entomologist, Heinrich Frey in 1856. The larvae are known as leaf miners, living inside the leaves of their food plants.
Crataegus songarica is an Asian species of hawthorn with black fruit that is sometimes used medicinally. It is closely related to Crataegus ambigua, a species that has red fruit.
Crataegus persimilis is a species of hawthorn, known by the common names plumleaf hawthorn and broad-leaved cockspur thorn, native to southern Ontario, Canada, and the US states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia. It is widely cultivated, particularly in Europe, as an ornamental. Its sporadic distribution in its natural range and certain of its morphological characters leads authorities to consider it a probable naturally occurring hybrid, with its most likely parents being Crataegus succulenta and Crataegus crus-galli. It is a tetraploid. Some populations may be self-perpetuating. Its 'Prunifolia' cultivar has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit, and is considered one of its top 5 trees for smaller gardens.
Crataegus × yosgatica or Crataegus yosgatica is a putative hybrid species of hawthorn. It was thought to be a cross between Crataegus monogyna and C. tanacetifolia. A 2014 molecular and morphological study reduced it to a synonym of Crataegus meyeri.
