Blackthorn

Prunus spinosa

• Made famous recently as part of the gin revolution. Blackthorn is part of the plum family, producing a small tart fruit in autumn called a sloe.
• A sometimes quite large often scruffy shrub, the thorns on it can grow up to 4 inches long and will grow into next year’s new twigs. They are coming into flower now, which they do before they come into leaf, creating white, candyfloss like trees that dot our hedgerows and roadsides.
• Blackthorn can be mistaken at this time of year for Cherry Plum (Prunus cerasifera), which starts to flower from mid February. For Blackthorn, look for the thorns and pure white flowers without a pink tinge.
• Due to its bushy nature and the sharp thorns it was often used in hedging, to keep animals either in or out.
• The wood of the blackthorn polishes well, it is often used for tool handles. The Royal Irish Regiment in the British Army carry blackthorn sticks.
• The black and brown hairstreak butterflies overwinter as eggs on blackthorn branches before hatching as caterpillars in the spring to eat the new leaves. Can you see any of the eggs on the branches? They look like little white dots between the thorn and the shoot.