#18 hawthorn (Crataegus sp.)

Hawthorn is a very large genus of small trees and caorse shrubs distributed throughout North America. The interesting feature of hawthron is the reproduction strategies. One of the hawthorn reproduction strategy is apomixis. Apomixis is a process where embyro in the seed is produced without the fertilization of pollen. Therefore, the resulting offspring is the exact copies of the parent tree. Besides that, hawthorn hybridizes freely causing offsprings to have intermediate features of two parent trees. Thus, it is easy to identify the tree by genus but not by species. Clearing and abandonment of land has provided an incresaed habitat for the proliferation of hawthorns.

Summer Tree

Winter tree

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