Crataegus douglasii
Black Hawthorn

Family: Rosaceae (Rose family)

Photo taken at Leavenworth Fish Hatchery, wooded riparian area, sandy soil (10-20 meters from Icicle River)

Flowers:

corymbose; complete; epigynous; petals white; calyx with short, disk-lined, free hypan above the ovary; ovary often more or less hairy

Fruit:

black when ripe

Leaves:

alternate; deciduous; serrate to biserrate

Plant:

shrubs or small trees with thorny branches; older thorns 13-18 mm. Traditionally the berries were eaten raw or dried for future use by the Okanagan-Colville, Okanagon, Sanpoil, Nespelem, Shuswap, and Thompson. Spines were used to make fish hooks and other tools, and the wood was used for digging sticks by the Thompson.

Habitat:

mostly east Cascades; wooded or riparian areas

Distribution of species:

Alaska to California, from coast inland to the Dakotas, Wyoming, and Ontario

Distribution of genus:

more or less 300 species: northern temperate