Downy Hawthorn & Québec Hawthorn

Crataegus mollis Scheele, Crataegus submollis Sarg.

Roseaceae

Downy Hawthorn in bloom, Photo credit: Y. Z. Ni 2022

Names and Their Meanings

Downy Hawthorn - Crataegus mollis

Kanienʼkéha

ohì:kta wahyarà:ken; yotironhwentsí:yo

Anishinaabemowin

miinensgaawanzh

French

aubépine

Québec Hawthorn - Crataegus submollis

Kanienʼkéha

ohì:kta wahyarà:ken, yotironhwentsí:yo

Anishinaabemowin

miinensgaawanzh

French

aubépine

Mrs. Mary Thomas and her Grandmother Margaret Elm in Oneidatown (Oneida on the Thomas), Ontario, 1912. In 1912, when Waugh took this photo, Margaret Elm was 94 years old. Photo credit: F. W. Waugh Canadian Museum of History Archives and Collections

Hawthorn tree in the Red Hill Valley, Hamilton, Ontario, Photo credit: J. Dolan 2022

Hawthorn thorns, growing in the Red Hill Valley, Hamilton, Ontario, Photo credit: J. Dolan 2022

Québec Hawthorn leaves, Copperkettle, Photo credit: J. Dolan 2022

Downy Hawthorn in bloom, Photo credit: Y. Z. Ni 2022

Downy Hawthorn

Description

Frederick Wilkerson Waugh recorded “haws” (the fruit of Hawthorns) being eaten as food at Six Nations of the Grand River in 1912. Other uses are as medicine: the fruit of all species of Hawthorns (whose taxonomy is notoriously challenging due to their ability to hybridize) are used for heart medicine. Herbalists and medicine people will discuss how different species from different locations may have slightly different effects on the heart, but overall it is a regulator – both ways. It also has a spiritual quality for healing broken hearts, grief, and protecting vulnerable people. Hawthorn has also been used to make snowsnakes and mudcats because its wood is very dense.