Which Indian Hawthorn Berries Are Edible – Rhaphiolepis (/ˌræfi ˈɒlɪpɪs/ or /ˌræfioʊ ˈlɛpɪs/;
) is a pod of approximately fifteen species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the Rosaceae family, native to warm temperate and subtropical East Asia and Southeast Asia, from southern Japan, southern Korea and southern China, south to Thailand and Vietnam. In searching literature it is good to remember that the name is often misspelled “Raphiolepsis”. The pod is closely related to Eriobotrya (loquats), so closely in fact that members of the two genera have hybridized with each other; for example the “Coppertone loquat” is a hybrid of Eriobotrya deflexa X Rhaphiolepis indica. The common name hawthorn, originally specifically applied to the related genus Crataegus, now also appears in the common names for some Rhaphiolepis species. For example, Rhaphiolepis indica is often called “Indian hawthorn”, and Rhaphiolepis umbellata, “Yeddo hawthorn”.
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Which Indian Hawthorn Berries Are Edible
The species vary in size, with some only reaching 1–1.5 m (3 ft 3 in – 4 ft 11 in), while R. ferruginea can reach 10 m (33 ft). The leaves are alternate, leathery, shiny dark, simple, 3–9 cm (1–3+ 1 ⁄2 in) long, with a tire or serrate margin. The flowers are white or pink,
Rhaphiolepis Indica ‘pink Lady’, Indian Hawthorn ‘pink Lady’ In Gardentags Plant Encyclopedia
1-2 cm (1 ⁄2 –3 ⁄4 in) diameter, produced in small to large corymbs with panicle structure. The fruit is a small apple
1–2 cm (1 ⁄2 –3 ⁄4 in) diameter, maturing dark purple to black, usually containing only a single seed.
Rhaphiolepis is closely related to loquats and toy and is in the apple subtribe along with many other commercially important fruits such as pears. Rect phylogenetic research suggested that Rhaphiolepis and Eriobotrya (loquats) should be merged.
The best known species is Rhaphiolepis indica (Indian hawthorn) from southern China, grown for its decorative pink flowers, and popular in bonsai culture. Rhaphiolepis umbellata (Yeddo hawthorn) from Japan and Korea has blunter leaves and white flowers. It is the hardiest species, tolerating temperatures down to about −15 °C (5 °F).
Hawthorn Berries: Identify, Harvest, And Make An Extract |
The fruit of some varieties is edible when cooked, and can be used to make jam, but some ornamental varieties produce fruit that has no culinary value.
Indian Hawthorn is a major horticultural species in the southern United States. It is often found in commercial as well as in private landscapes. Often it is clipped into small compact hedges or balls for foundation plants. It has been successfully pruned into a standard form as well as small dwarf-like trees up to 4.5 m (15 ft) in height.
The use of Rhaphiolepis in landscapes in humid regions is limited by the susceptibility of many of its species and hybrids to disfiguring leaf spot disease caused by fungi in the gus tomosporium. Hawthorn berry picking is new to me this year. They are sweet and mild if you get them at just the right time, and in years past I have tasted them too early in fall. This year, Washington hawthorn was sweet and mild in late October. But then, one-seeded hawthorn started to rot, so next year I’ll be looking for those in mid-October.
I owe some credit to Josh Fecteau’s recent hawthorn post for inspiring me to try hawthorn berries again. As Josh points out, there are many hawthorn species, perhaps 50 in New England. And, in all of North America, perhaps a thousand species, according to George Symonds (from his wonderful book Tree Identification Book : A New Method for the Practical Identification and Recognition of Trees
How To Incorporate Aronia Berries Into Your Diet — Daily Harvest Designs, Llc
, my favorite guide to learning tree ID). Fortunately, you don’t need to be able to identify particular species. You just need to know it’s a hawthorn, because all hawthorns have edible berries. HOWEVER, like apple seeds, hawthorn seeds contain cyanide, and should not be eaten. Don’t panic; just spit out the seeds.
Why bother with hawthorns? They are beautiful, interesting and delicious wild edibles with known health benefits. Some people use the berries to make hawthorn jelly, but I have yet to try this. Berries, leaves and flowers can be used to make tea. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see how I make hawthorn berry extract.
I will describe two species here, to exemplify the general characteristics. That should help you recognize a hawthorn when you see one, but i
If you are not sure you have hawthorn when eating, please check with additional sources until you ARE sure, before eating the berries.
How To Grow Indian Hawthorn
This grows as a small tree or large shrub, and bears clusters of white flowers in late spring. The berries turn red in September (here), but sweeten later. By October 31st, they were sweet, and maybe a little past peak. Each berry has 3-5 seeds.
The leaves are lobed and toothed, as you can see in my photo above. Many other hawthorn species have similar leaves. The tree is heavily armed with long thorns, up to about 3 inches in length. However, with reasonable caution, you can easily harvest the berries that tend to hang off a branch. It’s even easier later in the season after many of the leaves have fallen and the thorns are no longer in the way.
Also called common hawthorn, this is a European native that escaped cultivation and naturalized in North America. It is sometimes labeled as an invasive plant, but I don’t find it very often, and when I do see it, there isn’t much of it in one area. It may be invasive in other parts of the country, but it doesn’t seem to be particularly aggressive here. Like Washington hawthorn, single-seeded hawthorn grows as a shrub or small tree, and bears clusters of white flowers in late spring. The oval red berries ripen a little earlier (than Washington hawthorn) in the fall and contain a single seed (hence the name). The serrated leaves are more deeply lobed than those of Washington hawthorn, but the spines are much smaller, only about 1/2 inch to an inch in length.
Hawthorns are common in the forest understory here in Massachusetts, but these are scrawny specimens that don’t fruit well. It’s too shady in the forest. To find fruit-laden hawthorns, look in sunny areas, such as brushy fields and thickets, at pasture edges and along streams. They are often planted as ornamentals, so if your friend has one and doesn’t mind picking a few berries, you have an easy foraging experience at your fingertips.
Rhaphiolepis Indica, Indian Hawthorn In Gardentags Plant Encyclopedia
This is my first experience using hawthorn berries, and I am using them to make an extract, using the same process you would use to make vanilla extract. I hope to use hawthorn extract as a flavoring agent in cooking and baking. I filled a clean canning jar about 3/4 full with berries, covered them with 80 proof vodka and covered the jar. I’m not sure how long it takes to get enough flavor out of the berries, so I’ll check it daily. I know other extracts, (like vanilla extract) take weeks, so that’s what I expect here. Information May Be Out of Date The information presented on this page was originally published on February 25, 2019. It may not be out of date, but please search our website for more current information. If you plan to cite or reference this information in a publication, please check with the specialist or author before proceeding.
I join the gardening world in waiting for the Southern ink azaleas to officially kick off the spring season with their striking show of beautiful color. But there is one landscape shrub that tends to get lost when the azaleas start showing, and it’s actually one of my springtime favorites.
Some gardeners think Indian hawthorn is a ho-hum, un-pizzay shrub. But this plant is much more than some of the prima donna shrubs that garner all the attention every spring. An accurate way to describe these bushes is to say that they are hardworking and don’t complain much about how they are treated. They are so pedestrian, so blue collar.
But when you actually look for them, you’ll find that Indian hawthorns are in nearly every southern Mississippi landscape as foundational anchor shrubs. That’s because they’re reliable, and every home gardener wants reliability in their landscape. The Indian Hawthorn is the perfect evergreen shrub to plant in your home landscape in hardy zones 7 through 10.
Rhaphiolepis Indica, Indian Hawthorn, Hong Kong Hawthorn Stock Image
Star-shaped flowers ranging from snow-white to pale-pastoral pink appear in spring in clusters held loosely at the ends of branches. On calm spring days, you can catch a hint of their delicate floral fragrance when you walk by a flowering hedge. The pistil and stamens are reddish, matching the color of the newly developing foliage. This feature adds additional interest and contrast to the flower color.
Indian hawthorn is not just a hardworking spring shrub. It also does the job in summer and fall.
Thick and leathery evergreen foliage provides a stunning backdrop for warm-season annual color. The top of the foliage is a glossy dark green in summer, and it can turn purplish blue-green when exposed to winter temperatures. The leaf margins have soft, serrated edges that