The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Crataegus aestivalis
Also called Eastern Mayhaw, Mayhaw
Crataegus aestivalis, known as the eastern mayhaw, is a shrub or small tree of the southeastern United States that grows in low-lying or wet areas from eastern Alabama to central Florida and Virginia. It is one of several species of hawthorn with fruits known as "mayhaws", which are harvested for use in making mayhaw jelly, considered a delicacy in many areas of the South. Other species of mayhaws include Crataegus opaca, the western May Hawthorn, which is native from east Texas to Alabama.
The jelly is a rosy color, with a delicate flavor. It's sometimes commercially available at farm stands or specialty Southern food stores.
Annual pruning of sucker stems and weak branches, opening up the canopy, can increase fruit production.
C. aestivalis is found in the southeastern corner of the United States, from Virginia to Mississippi.
The wood of C. aestivalis can be used to make mallets and tool handles, and the plant can be used medicinally in herbal folk medicine as a tea to treat high blood pressure. The fruit can be used for preserves, jelly, pies, and also can be dried for later use.
+ Crataegomespilus · Rome hawthorn · Alabama Hawthorn · Hawthorn · Russian Hawthorn · Grand Rapids hawthorn · Fort Bend hawthorn · Mississippi hawthorn · Phoenix City hawthorn · Hawthorn · Sunny Hawthorn · Montgomery hawthorn
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Crataegus aestivalis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
