Herbariuma Backpackers project
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Blackthorn

Prunus spinosa

Family · Rosaceae · Harmless

Edible
Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)
Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Dmitry Makeev, CC BY-SA 4.0

The first white of the year in the hedgerows, still in deep winter and before any leaf. In autumn it bears the blue sloes that make sloe liqueur.

Where it grows

Roadsides and waste ground · Oak woods · Uplands · Fields and pasture

Also known as

sloe

In flower
In fruit

How to tell it

Dark, almost black branches full of stiff thorns. Solitary white flowers straight on the bare branch, in February. A round, dark blue fruit with a waxy bloom and fiercely astringent.

What it is confused with

Hawthorn

Crataegus monogyna

Harmless confusion

The season decides: blackthorn flowers in February without leaves, hawthorn in May with them. And the fruits are dark blue versus red.

Open sheet →

What it is for

The sloe is unpalatable raw until the first frost, then it makes liqueur, jam and Navarrese pacharán. Gathered in October and November, after the cold has been through it.

Traditionally used as food. This is not permission to eat it.

Sources