The open plant encyclopedia

Know any plant.
Grow it well.

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.

What's growing around me?

13,000+plants with full pages
365,000+plant species worldwide
220+countries covered

Common in

See all

The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.

What do you want to do?

Popular plants

Browse all plants

See them in 3D

All plants in 3D

Browse plants

Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.

Has a real 3D model

Plant Wiki › Browse plants

Fleshy hawthorn

Crataegus succulenta

Also called Succulent Hawthorn, Round Fruited Cockspurthorn, Round Fruit Cockspurthorn, Round Fruited Cockspur Thorn

Crataegus succulenta is a small thorny tree in the rose family, native to much of southern Canada and the central and eastern United States. Its fleshy, edible red fruit is its main feature, and it is grown as an ornamental and wildlife tree rather than as a houseplant.

Family: Rosaceae (Rose family)
Grows as: Succulent
Light: Full sun, Part shade
Water: Water young trees regularly during the first growing seasons, then mostly rely on rainfall.
Soil: Adaptable; tolerates a range of soils including moist loam and clay, with good drainage preferred.
Temperature: Hardy in cold winters, roughly USDA zones 3 to 7; protect young trees from late frost.
How easy: Easy
Safety: Not known to be toxic: Seeds contain compounds that can release cyanide if crushed and eaten in quantity, so the seeds should be avoided.
Edible: Yes, some parts
Native range: C. & E. Canada to WC. & E. U.S.A.

About

Crataegus succulenta is a species of hawthorn known by the common names fleshy hawthorn, succulent hawthorn, and round-fruited cockspurthorn. It is "the most wide-ranging hawthorn in North America", native to much of southern Canada, and the United States as far south as Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina, and Tennessee. In this wide area there are many variant forms that have received species names, but can also be considered as synonyms. It is thought to be the parent, along with Crataegus crus-galli, of the tetraploid species Crataegus persimilis.

The fruit is edible and can be made into jelly or crushed to make tea.

Other Crataegus plants

Azarole · Cockspur hawthorn · Harbison's hawthorn · Various Leaved Hawthorn · Midland Hawthorn · Manzanita tejocotera · Downy hawthorn · Hawthorn · Glossy hawthorn · Plumleaf hawthorn · Washington hawthorn · Chinese haw

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Crataegus succulenta by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

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.

Credits & terms

Know any plant.Grow it well.