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HAWTHORN (Crataegus, many species)
Other names: thornapple, haw

POOR

There are too many species of hawthorn (or thornapple) to list here. All are scrubby trees, usually no more than 6" in diameter. They usually grow in dense thickets mixed with vine maple and crabapple on the Pacific slope. In the Great Lakes and eastern portion of the country they occur as single trees in open pastures and borders of woodlands. They are thorny, have hard wood, are short lived and decay quickly when dead. 

The original surveyors may have called hawthorn "crabapple', or vice versa. The sapwood is thick under a rough bark. The wood is hard to cut but decays quickly when dead and on the ground. Original hawthorn bearing trees are seldom found and when they are the blaze is badly decayed, with little or no scribing remaining. Identification of the bearing tree is had by reference to another before it can be certain the particular hawthorn is the bearing tree searched for. 

Avoid marking hawthorn for a bearing tree. If nothing better is available bark scribe if possible, or keep the blaze small, (a "BT" blaze size is recommended over a full compliment of markings) and paint the wound thoroughly. Release if possible, but this is usually difficult in the dense entanglements.