{"id":12232,"date":"2022-03-09T07:34:32","date_gmt":"2022-03-09T06:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.countryfile.com\/?p=110237"},"modified":"2022-03-09T07:54:18","modified_gmt":"2022-03-09T06:54:18","slug":"blackthorn-guide-how-to-identify-folklore-and-uses","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/rss_feed\/blackthorn-guide-how-to-identify-folklore-and-uses\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackthorn guide: how to identify, folklore and uses"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Adele Brand\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 09 March 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Blackthorn blossom arrives with a shiver at winter\u2019s end when a cruel north-east wind blows \u2013 so the legends say, but then folklore has never seen the best in blackthorn. It is true enough that the hills seem dozy, with trees bare and sombre beside meadows bereft of wildflowers. And there, suddenly, impossibly, spring\u2019s pioneer splashes brilliant white paint over hedgerows with such impatience that its own leaves miss the show.<\/p>\n

This understated shrub, found through the British countryside, has four distinct stages. In spring it blossoms; in summer it comes in to leaf; in autumn its branches fill with sloe berries; in winter, without its\u00a0blossom, leaves or fruit, blackthorn\u2019s thin hard bones are revealed.<\/p>\n

Find out more about blackthorn with our species guide.<\/p>\n

\""Harvest\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Blackthorn hedgerows are favoured homes for harvest mice\/credit: David Chapman, Alamy<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

What is blackthorn?<\/h2>\n

Blackthorn\u2019s scientific name is Prunus spinosa; the genus Prunus is made up of 430 species of stone fruits. It may look roughly like an unpolished version of hawthorn, but blackthorn\u2019s true cousins are world famous: apricots, almonds and cherries.<\/p>\n

Blackthorn was long thought to be an ancestor of the cultivated European plum but genetic analysis has questioned this. Its relationship to the damson, which blackthorn strongly resembles, remains unclear. Prunus species share their fruit and showy blossom across the northern hemisphere, from desert plums in California to bird cherries in Japan. Blackthorn itself is found from north-west Africa through Europe to western Asia, and is widely cultivated in China. It has been introduced to North America and New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\""Signs\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Mature blackthorn trees can grow to a height of seven metres and live\u00a0to 100 years\/Credit: JC-Foto, Getty<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Blackthorn mythology<\/h2>\n

Perhaps it is the thorns. Mythology views blackthorn with a dubious eye, casting it as a plant of ill omen, witches and doom. \u201cMany slones [sloes], many groans, many [hazel]nuts, many pits [graves]\u201d, goes an old Devon rhyme, perhaps related to the old idea that a bountiful autumn signalled a dire winter. Witches and heretics were said to have been burned on blackthorn pyres, while English witches supposedly pricked people with the thorns.<\/p>\n

In Germany, it was known as the wishing thorn, and used instead of hazel as a divining rod; in Irish mythology, winter begins when the Cailleach \u2013 the winter goddess \u2013 strikes the ground with a blackthorn staff. In Sandwich in Kent, the mayor still carries a blackthorn wand. It could be said that blackthorn is overdue some myths where it is not cast as the villain.<\/p>\n

\""Berries\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Sloe berries should be picked when squishably ripe\/Credit: Lemanieh, Getty<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Blackthorn in spring \u2013 blossom<\/h2>\n

Blackthorn, black bark, white blossom: a warm snowfall that wafts sweet almond perfume. Flowers of five petals apiece and long stamens tumbling; so tightly do they cluster that the limbs that bear them are but shadows in the veil, black stems sturdy beneath. In March and April, blackthorn celebrates contrast like an artist working in monochrome.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But who is the performer? Blackthorn lacks the fame awarded to many larger trees, yet quietly embeds itself in folklore, landscapes and all frequently in flesh \u2013 its thorns are long thin spears whose tips can survive months inside their victim. Packed with alkaloids, the inflammation can be fierce.<\/p>\n

Yet blackthorn defies easy judgment. Its brutality is useful; we have recruited it as a livestock-proof barrier for at least 4,500 years, and pruned twigs unearthed in Cambridgeshire are thought to be evidence of the world\u2019s oldest hedging. Still a mixed blessing, it often wanders via suckers from where we plant it, invading agricultural fields and rare chalk grasslands. It is nicknamed the Mother of Woods, for where it goes, other trees may follow. Beneficial but rebellious, adaptable yet stubborn, blackthorn is an old but unwilling servant.<\/p>\n

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