Blue Hawthorn (Crataegus schraderana)

Shrub or small tree to 20 feet (6 meters) tall, trunk to 6 inches diameter. One of tallest hawthorns in North America, can reach 50 feet in optimal conditions. Broad compact round-topped/irregular open crown. Gray flaking outer bark, reddish-brown inner bark. Reddish brown to gray twigs, glabrous, short curved spines ~2cm (0.8 inch) long. Simple alternate elliptical leaves 2.5-5cm (1-2 inches) long, dark green above, paler below, glabrous above, wavy saw-toothed with gland-tipped teeth, rounded apex. Superior shade tolerance among hawthorns. One of "black-fruited" hawthorn species (only distantly related to other black-fruited species like C. douglasii or C. nigra).

Bright blue to black pomes 10-13mm (1/3-1/2 inch) diameter, globose, with blue-white waxy bloom that gives blue appearance. Contains 3-5 nutlets. Ripens late summer/August. Bitter taste - not particularly palatable despite aesthetic appeal. Birds favor the fruit. Attracts pollinators (bees) to white spring flowers that turn orange with age.

Native southern central United States: Louisiana, southern Arkansas, southeastern Oklahoma, eastern Texas; one historic disjunct record in southwestern Georgia. Rare in Oklahoma, restricted to Coastal Plain physiographic province. Habitat: oak flatwoods, bottomland forests, pine flatwoods, floodplains, swamps, lowlying areas, margins of prairies and saline barrens. Common names "blueberry haw" and "blueberry hawthorn" refer to fruit appearance (almost blue color), not taste. Rarely cultivated but ornamental leaves, flowers, foliage. Distinguished by blue fruits and short curved spines. Glossy dark green foliage turns vivid orange, bronze, red in fall.