Crataegus crus-galli
Common name: 
Cockspur Hawthorn
Pronunciation: 
kra-TEE-gus kroos-GA-lee
Family: 
Rosaceae
Genus: 
Crataegus
Type: 
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon: 
No
  • Deciduous tree, 20-30 ft (6-9 m) tall, slightly greater spread, broad-rounded, branches often horizontal, wide-spreading, dense; thorns, stout, 3-8cm at first, later to 15 cm and branching.  Leaves alternate, simple, 2.5-10 cm long and 1-3 cm wide, obovate, margin sharply serrate above the entire base, dark glossy green, glabrous (without hairs) above and below, orange-red to purplish in fall.  Flowers white, 1.5 cm wide, 10 stamens, anthers pink, 2 styles, in flat clusters, disagreeable odor; blooms late.  Fruit rounded or oblong, about 1 cm wide, deep red, usually contains 2 nutlets, persisting into late fall.
  • Sun, not to fussy about soil type if well drained.  Resistant to hawthorn rust.  Tolerates city life
  • Hardy to USDA Zone 4 and even protected locations in Zone 3 (Snyder, 2000).     Native from Quebec to North Carolina and west into Minnesota, Kansas, and eastern Texas.  A few selections available in the nursery trade, probably the most common is the thornless form, C. crus-galli var. inermis; the term inermis means unarmed, i.e., without thorns.
  • crus-galli: crus, resembling a leg;  galli, chicken; resembling a chicken leg, a reference to the thorns which may bring to mind the spur on a chicken's leg, hence Cockspur Hawthorn.
  • Wichita, Kansas: Botanica
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  • plant habit, spring, before flowering

    plant habit, spring, before flowering

  • flower clusters, opening

    flower clusters, opening

  • plant habit, summer fruiting

    plant habit, summer fruiting

  • plant habit, fruiting shrub form

    plant habit, fruiting shrub form

  • leaves and immature fruit

    leaves and immature fruit

  • fruit, late fall

    fruit, late fall

  • winter twig, thorns, bud

    winter twig, thorns, bud

  • plant habit, winter

    plant habit, winter