Crataegus spathulata Michx.

Little Hip Hawthorn; Sugar Haw

Tree

Perennial

Vascular

Little Hip Hawthorn is a native deciduous shrub or small tree in the Rose family (Rosaceae). It can be found throughout most of Alabama. Little Hip Hawthorn grows in mixed pine/hardwood forests, along fence rows, in and in forest clearings. It is a shrub or small tree reaching 20 feet in height. Young twigs are appressed pubescent and armed with straight thorns. The bark on older stems and the trunk is exfoliating and mottled in gray, orange and brown. Leaves are alternate, petiolate, elliptic to spathulate in outline, with 0 or 1 lobes per side. The leaf surface is usually glabrous with scattered hairs along the margins and veins. Fragrant flowers are produced in 20-30 flowered inflorescences. Each flower has 5 green sepals, and 5 white petals, and 20 yellowish stamens. The hypanthium is glabrous. The fruit is a small red pome with 4-5 pyrenes. Little Hip Hawthorn is occasionally available from native plant nurseries. It prefers a well-draining soil in full to partial sun. It can be used as a hedge or border or as a small specimen tree. The fruit are consumed by a variety of wildlife.— A. Diamond.

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Native FAC (NWPL)

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