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Crataegus crus-galli L.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Crataegus crus-galli' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/crataegus/crataegus-crus-galli/). Accessed 2026-05-13.

Family

  • Rosaceae

Genus

Common Names

  • Cockspur Thorn

Glossary

apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
globose
globularSpherical or globe-shaped.

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Crataegus crus-galli' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/crataegus/crataegus-crus-galli/). Accessed 2026-05-13.

Crataegus crus-galli

Crataegus crus-galli is a formidably armed plant, but a pretty one in flower. Stoke Poges Memorial Gardens, Buckinghamshire, UK; 28th May 2018. Image Owen Johnson.

A small, usually more or less flat-topped tree, with spreading, often horizontal branches; young shoots quite glabrous; thorns rigid, 11⁄2 to 3 in. long, ultimately twice as long, and branched. Leaves obovate, always tapered and without teeth towards the base, the apex toothed, rounded or abruptly pointed; 1 to 4 in. long, 1⁄3 to 11⁄2 in. wide; dark glossy green and perfectly glabrous; stalk 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long. Flowers white, 2⁄3 in. across, produced in June on smooth-stalked corymbs 2 to 3 in. wide; stamens ten, anthers pink; styles usually two. Fruit nearly globose, 1⁄2 in. diameter, deep red.

Native of eastern N. America; introduced in 1691. This beautiful and distinct thorn has much to recommend it. Its habit is striking and picturesque, it blossoms freely, its leaves change to brilliant scarlet in autumn, and its fruits, ripening in October and persisting until spring, make one of the brightest of early winter pictures. The species is, moreover, one of the hardiest and most thriving of its kind.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

The true species is rare in gardens. What usually passes under this name is C. prunifolia ‘Splendens’.

Crataegus crus-galli

The bark of Crataegus crus-galli in Sheffield Park , West Sussex, UK. July 2020. Image Ron Kemeny.

Crataegus crus-galli

The flat top of a 12-year old Crataegus crus-galli in Sheffield Park , West Sussex, UK. July 2020 July 2020. Image Ron Kemeny.

Crataegus crus-galli

Showing the leaf under side, the base of the leaf having no teeth and the large very sharp thorns of Crataegus crus-galli. Sheffield Park , West Sussex, UK. July 2020. Image Ron Kemeny.

Crataegus crus-galli

The leaf upper side of Crataegus crus-galli. Sheffield Park , West Sussex, UK. July 2020. Image Ron Kemeny.

C berberifolia Torr. & Gr

A species related to C. crus-galli but amply distinguished by the downiness of the young parts and the yellow anthers. A native of the southern United States. It has been cultivated at Kew since 1878 and in spite of its southern habitat is quite hardy, although of no particular merit.

C canbyi Sarg

A large shrub or small tree to 20 ft high, with a broad, open crown. In foliage it resembles C. crus-galli but the leaves are relatively broader, with their widest diameter near the middle. It also differs in the more lustrous fruit, with bright red flesh.

C fontanesiana (Spach) Steud.

Synonyms
Mespilus fontanesiana Spach
C. olivacea Sarg

This species, introduced to Europe before 1830, differs from C. crus-galli chiefly in the thinner, yellowish-green leaves.

C persistens Sarg

A small tree closely resembling the cockspur thorn and perhaps a hybrid of it; it is not known in the wild state and its origin is uncertain. The leaves remain green well into the winter and the fruits remain long on the tree; it also differs from C. crus-galli in having flowers with twenty stamens. The glabrous undersides of the leaves distinguish it from C. × lavallei.

var. arbutifolia Bean

Leaves obovate to oval, from {5/8} to over 2 in. wide. In their size and to some degree their shape, this variety suggests C. prunifolia (q.v.), but it is quite free from down in all its parts, it has not more than ten stamens, and its fruits remain after the leaves. A handsome variety.

var. capillata Sarg

Corymbs and flower-stalks furnished with down or short hairs.

var. linearis DC

In the entire absence of down from this tree, it would appear to be a true crus-galli form intermediate between arbutifolia and pyracanthifolia.

var. pyracanthifolia Ait

Leaves oblong-lanceolate. Fruit smaller. Such variants are found in the wild state, intermingled with the type.The following varieties are founded on variations seen in cultivated plants:

var. salicifolia Ait

Leaves narrower than in var. pyracanthifolia, oblanceolate; habit flat-topped.

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