Once picked, you can't bear to eat them, yet after a few you're so sour you can't stand it.

In August, the wild hawthorns in the wild fields of southern China gradually ripen.

[Wild Hawthorn Crataegus cuneata] Rosaceae >> Crataegus genus

The "wild hawthorn" here refers to a species, scientific name Crataegus cuneata, not a wild hawthorn tree.

There are quite a few hawthorn trees on the outskirts of Beijing. It's unclear whether they're wild, or whether someone planted them and then the people left the village empty and abandoned them. In autumn and winter, the big red fruits drop all over the ground, yet nobody pays them any attention.

Hawthorn trees are few in the south; some gardens introduce and cultivate them, but in the wild there are basically only the short, small wild hawthorns.

A ground full of hawthorns

Wild hawthorns are indeed quite common in the wild fields of the south. They're fairly tolerant of barren soil, often growing on desolate mountains. Never mind soil, they can even push out of rock faces. They could also be called a kind of "pioneer species" - wild hawthorns are often seen growing beside mountain roads and on slopes where human influence is strong.

The wild hawthorn is a low shrub with dense branches and leaves and often thorns. I think what we call "thorns and brambles" includes the wild hawthorn as one component. The wild hawthorn doesn't look very remarkable, often mixed in among weeds and scrub; if it's not the fruiting season, it's hard to distinguish it from its surroundings.

April and May are the flowering season for wild hawthorn. The flowers have five petals, and the petals are pure white. At the center of the flower are twenty stout stamens, topped with pink anthers, slightly curved and tucked inward, encircling the style.

In the sunlight, the wild hawthorn flowers look sparkling - that's the nectar among the stamens reflecting the light. Overall, wild hawthorn flowers are no different from hawthorn flowers, just a whole size smaller.

Wild hawthorns always manage to produce many flowers, and can also bear many fruits. The fruit isn't large, with a diameter slightly smaller than a one-yuan coin.

The feeling of picking and eating wild hawthorns is much the same as the feeling of picking and eating raspberries:

There's clearly nothing much worth eating, the flesh is so scant it doesn't even fill the gaps between your teeth, and the taste isn't that good either, yet you still have to go pick them;

Even if you have to push aside the grass and thorny branches, snagging your clothes and skin, you still have to go pick them;

Once picked, you can't bear to eat them, and you insist on gathering a full handful before you'll take a bite;

Yet after a few, you're so sour you can't stand it.

Author: Jiang Mouren

Images: Jiang Mouren

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