Common hawthorn

Crataegus monogyna

• Height: up to 10 m
• Trunk: shrub-like, multi-stemmed, or small tree; reddish-brown to grey-brown bark, smooth to fissured; thorn-covered branches
• Crown: irregular, densely branched
• Leaves: alternate, usually 5- to 9-lobed, deeply incised, lobes toothed at the tip, turning yellow-orange or strikingly red in autumn
• Buds: small, egg-shaped to spherical, glossy brown-red
• Flowers: white, fragrant flowers in corymbs in May/June, with a single style
• Fruits/Seeds: carmine-red to bluish-red stone fruits, approx. 1 cm in size
• Other: Food source for insects and nesting site for birds; the red hawthorn is a cultivar of the common hawthorn with red flowers

^{Photos: Wolfgang Schödel (1), BUND Naturschutz in Bayern (2,3)}