Hawthorns as Edible Fruits

Abstract

The various hawthorns may be the most populous genus of all the pome fruits, outnumbering apple, pear, and probably even Cotoneasterin numbers of wild plants as well as numbers of species in the North American, European and Asiatic temperate to subtropical regions. To the botanists they have been objects of contention between "species splitters" and "species lumpers"; and-more recently—they have proved material for some good cytogenetic studies. To American farmers they are a plain nuisance in pasture lands, but one species is being planted for fodder in South Africa. In England and more recently in America, some of them have been widely used as small ornamental trees and hedges. Horticulturists have from time to time used them as understocks for pears and other pomes, and interstock experiments by Dr. Karl Sax at Harvard may lead to the production of dwarf pears on hawthorn roots. The interstocks he used include the oriental Photinia villosaand Cotoneaster multiflora.