Hawthorn, the state flower of Missouri

How to recognize it

Hawthorns are shrubs or small trees, usually 15 to 35 feet tall, often with several trunks, a rounded crown and sharp thorns about an inch and a half long. Their flowers come in clusters from April to June. Each has five white petals and many stamens and looks like a small apple blossom, which makes sense: hawthorns belong to the rose family and are close relatives of apples.

The leaves are simple and toothed, and depending on the species they range from unlobed to lobed. In September and October the trees bear small crabapple-like fruits, usually red, that often hang on into winter.

Not one species

Missouri’s law names “the hawthorn,” the blossom of the tree known as red haw or wild haw, and does not pick a species. That leaves plenty of choice: about 75 species of Crataegus grow in Missouri, all with white, five-petaled blossoms. The Missouri Department of Conservation’s field guide links the 1923 designation to the downy hawthorn, Crataegus mollis, but the statute and the secretary of state refer to the whole genus.

Where it grows

Hawthorns are native to Missouri and grow in every part of the state, on nearly every kind of soil. Look for them in pastures, rocky open woods and bluffs, along stream banks, in thickets and at woodland edges.

Where to see it

In April and May, watch pastures, fencerows and woodland edges anywhere in the state for the white bloom. Come back in fall to see the red haws. The fruit can be made into jam or tea, and birds and small mammals eat it, while the thorny branches give birds safe cover for their nests.

The state flower since 1923

Governor Arthur M. Hyde signed the bill naming the hawthorn blossom Missouri’s floral emblem in 1923, and the law was re-enacted in 1957. The law also directs the state’s agriculture department to encourage people to grow the tree for its flowers, fruit and foliage. Missouri’s state tree, the flowering dogwood, is also known for its spring blossoms.