Plant Guide

Crataegus calpodendron (Ehrh.) Medik.
pear hawthorn

 

Kingdom  Plantae -- Plants

Subkingdom  Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants

Superdivision  Spermatophyta -- Seed plants

Division  Magnoliophyta -- Flowering plants

Class  Magnoliopsida -- Dicotyledons

Subclass  Rosidae

Order  Rosales

Family  Rosaceae -- Rose family

Genus  Crataegus L. -- hawthorn P

Species  Crataegus calpodendron (Ehrh.) Medik. -- pear hawthorn P

 

Alternative Name

blackthorn

 

Uses

Erosion Control: Because it tolerates a wide variety of sites, it can be planted to stabilize banks, for shelterbelts, and from wind and water erosion.

 

Timber: Although the wood is hard and strong, it has no commercial value except for tool handles and other small items.

 

Wildlife: It provides excellent cover and nesting sites for many smaller birds.  Birds, rodents and other smaller mammals eat the small fruits.  White tailed deer browse the young twigs and leaves.

 

Beautification: Excellent for environmental plantings including small specimen tree and shrub border.

 

Status

Please consult the Plants Web site and your State Department of Natural Resources for this plant’s current status, such as, state noxious status and wetland indicator values.

 

Description

General: It is a small tree that grows to twenty feet high; with wide-spreading, horizontal, thorny branches.  Leaves are broadest below or above the middle, thin, dull yellow-green, shiny, pubescent underneath, some with shallow lobes near tip.  Flowers are produced in several flowered clusters with anthers mostly pink.  Fruits are attached on slender stalks, elongated, and bright red in color.

 

Distribution: Pear hawthorn grows from Ontario and Minnesota, south to Georgia and Missouri.

 

Adaptation

Although Crataegus calpodendron will succeed in partial shade and different soil types, it grows best in full sunlight, in well-drained loamy soils.  Pear hawthorn will tolerate wet soils becoming drought tolerant once established.  It is also wind tolerant, making it a good tree species in shelterbelt planting.  It is tolerant of atmospheric pollution and performs well in urban settings.

 

Establishment

Propagation from Seed: Seeds can propagate Pear hawthorn.  Successful propagation using seeds requires acid scarification followed by warm stratification and prechilling.  Seeds, whose numbers per lb. varies with species, are acid scarified for thirty minutes, prechilled for three months, then planted early in the fall, in drill rows eight to twelve inches apart and covered with 1/4 inch of soil.  Seedlings must not be kept in the nursery longer than a year.

 

Containerized trees should be planted when they are no more than eight feet tall, in the fall or spring.  Balled and burlapped trees should be planted in early spring.

 

Management

Pruning should be done in the winter or early spring in order to maintain a clear shoot leader on young trees and/or remove the weakest branches to allow more light to pass through.  Suckers or stems arising from the roots should be removed when they become noticeable.

 

Pest and Potential Problems

Although pests and diseases seldom affect it, it is susceptible to fireblight, cedar-hawthorn rust, cedar-quince rust, leaf blight, fruit rot, and leaf spot.

 

Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

Consult your local nurseries to choose the right cultivar for your specific landscape.  Contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly Soil Conservation Service) office for more information.  Look in the phone book under ”United States Government.”  The Natural Resources Conservation Service will be listed under the subheading “Department of Agriculture.”

 

References

Dirr, M.A. 1990.  Manual of woody landscape plants: their identification, ornamental characteristics, culture, propagation and uses.  3^rd ed.  Stipes, Champaign, Illinois.

 

Duncan, W.H. & M.B. Duncan 1988.  Trees of the Southeastern United States.  University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia.

 

Elias, T.S. 1989.  Field guide to North American trees.  Revised ed. Grolier Book Clubs Inc., Danbury, Connecticut.

 

Flint, H.L. 1983.  Landscape plants for eastern North America.  John Wiley and Sons, Inc, New York, New York.

 

Harrar, E.S. & J.G. Harrar. 1962.  Guide to southern trees.  2^nd ed.  Dover Publications, Inc., New York, New York.

 

Little, E.E. 1996.  National Audubon Society field guide to North American trees: Eastern region.  Alfred A. Knopf, New York, New York.

 

Texas A&M University 2001.  Native trees of Texas.  Department of Horticulture, College Station, Texas.  Accessed: 10jan02.  <https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/ornamentals/natives/indexscientific.htm>

 

USDA Forest Service 1974.  Seeds of woody plants in the United States.  Agricultural Handbook 450. USDA, Washington, DC.

 

USDA Forest Service 1990.  Silvics of North America.  Agricultural Handbook 654.  Forest Service, USDA, Washington, DC.

 

Young, J. A. & C.G. Young. 1992.  Seeds of woody plants in North America.  Revised and enlarged ed.  Dioscorides Press, Portland, Oregon

 

Prepared By

Alfredo B. Lorenzo

Formerly, Southern University and A&M College

College of Agricultural, Family and Consumer Sciences, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

Species Coordinator

Lincoln M. Moore

USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

Edited: 10jan02 jsp; 24feb03 ahv; 05jun06 jsp

 

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS Web site<https://plants.usda.gov> or the Plant Materials Program Web site <https://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov>