Plant Guide > Trees > Hawthorns > Hogs Haw Tree

Hogs Haw Tree

Hog's Haw, Pomette Bleue (C. brachyacantha, Sarg. & Engelm.)-Tree 40 to 50 feet high, trunk 18 to 20 inches in diameter, with handsome, compact head, of stout grey branches. Thorns numerous, short, stout, curved, 1/3 to 2/3 inch long. Bark dark brown, deeply furrowed, scaly. Leaves lanceolate to rhomboidal, acute, serrate, sometimes distinctly lobed above middle, dark green, lustrous, firm, 1 to 2 inches long. on short petioles; stipules triangular, often 1 inch long.

Flowers. May, 1/3 inch across, in compound corymbs; petals orange colour as they fade; stamens 15 to 20. Fruits, August, falling soon, flattened globes, 1/3 to 1/2 inch in diameter, bright blue, with pale bloom; flesh thin; nutlets 3 to 5, faintly grooved on back. Preferred habitat, rich, moist soil of stream borders. Distribution, southern Arkansas to western Louisiana, and to the Sabine River valley in Texas. Uses: Handsome ornamental in south temperate regions; not hardy in Massachusetts.

This is the only blue-fruited haw in the world. This unique character alone must commend it to planters. The stout, curving thorns, the lustrous foliage, the abundant flowers, and the large blue fruit-all make this one of the best ornamental species. On the wet prairies of western Louisiana, this tree forms dense thickets which are quite the dominating feature of the woods.