# Blueberry Hawthorn (Crataegus brachyacantha) > A tall southern hawthorn whose fruit wears a waxy blue bloom in late summer, with white spring flowers and brilliant orange and red fall color. Also called blue haw, blueberry haw, hog haw, pomette bleue. Category: Nut & Fruit Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/blueberry-hawthorn/ ![Blueberry hawthorn (Crataegus brachyacantha) painting of white flower clusters and blue-black haws](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/blueberry-hawthorn-h1610-800.jpg) *Photo: Marian Ellis Rowan, Public domain ยท [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASouthern_wild_flowers_and_trees_%28Page_251%2C_Plate_LXXIV%29_BHL23630437.jpg)* ## Facts - Type: Small tree - Mature height: 20 to 50 ft - USDA hardiness zones: 4 to 9 - Grows wild in: Floodplain forests, swamps and wet flats, old fields and edges - Native range: 7 states, north to Oklahoma, south to Louisiana and west to Texas (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas) - Sun: Full, Part - Soil moisture: Average, Wet - Growth rate: Medium - Traits: Wildlife value, Fall color, Tolerates wet soil, Showy flowers - Sold as: Saplings, Seed Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them. ## Availability Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed. ## Notes Blueberry hawthorn is a tall hawthorn of Louisiana and the neighboring states, named for its fruit, which is dusted with a blue wax in late summer. It is the only Texas hawthorn with blue fruit. Under the wax the fruit ripens black in fall. NatureServe ranks it critically imperiled in Mississippi, and it has vanished from its one known site in Georgia. Give it a moist corner of the yard or a spot near a pond, where its fall color and its fruit for birds can be enjoyed. ## Size, growth and what to expect No source rates its growth, so our growth estimator treats it as a medium grower, like most of our hawthorns, about a foot and a half a year. It is among the tallest hawthorns, usually 20 to 33 feet and at times up to 50, with plated, dark gray-brown bark. Clusters of 15 to 25 white flowers, each about half an inch across, open in April, sometimes into May, and the petals turn orange as they age. The fruit is waxy blue in late August and ripens black from September into November, a third to a half inch across. Its flesh is thin, mealy and bitter, but many birds eat it, and so do deer, bears, raccoons, foxes and rabbits. The shiny leaves turn a brilliant orange, bronze and red in fall. It grows wild in wet prairies, on river flats, on moist, well-drained ground and at woodland edges. It is locally common in Louisiana, and it reaches Arkansas, Oklahoma, east Texas and Mississippi. ## How to grow Blueberry Hawthorn Blueberry hawthorn grows in full sun or part shade, and it takes more shade than most hawthorns. It likes a rich, moist soil, and it grows wild in wet prairies and on river flats. Its short thorns curve back, and some trees have none. Set trees 20 feet apart, and keep each one 20 feet from a wall. Old trees can pass 40 feet, so keep it more than 50 feet from overhead wires. Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the trunk. It is sown as other hawthorns are. Sow the cleaned seed outdoors in fall. Some seedlings may wait until the second spring. Water weekly through the first summer, and in dry spells for the next two. Deer browse hawthorn leaves and twigs and rabbits gnaw young bark, so cage each sapling for its first three years. Some blueberry hawthorns carry two sets of chromosomes and need another tree's pollen, while others carry three and can set seed alone. Plant two or more for a reliable crop. Hawthorns in general can suffer from rusts that spend part of their life on eastern redcedar, so keep it away from redcedars. ## Sources - [Flora of North America, vol. 9: Crataegus brachyacantha, Phipps](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250100068) - [Texas A&M AgriLife, Aggie Horticulture: Texas Native Plants Database, Crataegus brachyacantha](https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/ornamentals/natives/CRATAEGUSBRACHYACANTHA.HTM) - [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Crataegus chapter, Lasseigne and Blazich](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Crataegus.pdf) - [NatureServe Explorer: Crataegus brachyacantha](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.151571/Crataegus_brachyacantha) - [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Crataegus brachyacantha](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CRBR) - [Mississippi Natural Heritage Program: Special Plants Tracking List 2018](https://www.mdwfp.com/sites/default/files/2024-03/special-plant-tracking-list-2018.pdf) - [Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Georgia Biodiversity Portal, plant table exported July 7, 2026](https://georgiabiodiversity.org/portal/table/plants) - [Missouri Department of Conservation Field Guide: Hawthorns](https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/hawthorns) - [Talent and Dickinson 2005, Canadian Journal of Botany 83: 1268-1304](https://doi.org/10.1139/b05-088) - [Dickinson and Phipps 1986, American Journal of Botany 73: 116-130](https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1537-2197.1986.tb09687.x) - [Lo 2008, Global and fine scale molecular studies of polyploid evolution in Crataegus L. (Rosaceae), PhD thesis, University of Toronto, appendix 4](https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/16757) ## Read before planting - [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md) - [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md) - [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md) - [Why leaves turn red and yellow in fall, and which native trees give each color](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/why-leaves-turn-red-and-yellow-in-fall/index.html.md) - [Multistem or single stem? Sometimes the trunk is hiding the answer](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/multistem-or-single-stem/index.html.md) - [Leaf litter, not wood chips, under the canopy](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/leaf-litter-not-wood-chips/index.html.md) ## Related - [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Blueberry Hawthorn, add ?species=blueberry-hawthorn with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=blueberry-hawthorn&zone=4&sun=part&moisture=average. - [Companion species for Blueberry Hawthorn](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=blueberry-hawthorn): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard. - [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=blueberry-hawthorn - [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Blueberry Hawthorn is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=blueberry-hawthorn - [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Blueberry Hawthorn needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=blueberry-hawthorn:2 - [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Blueberry Hawthorn flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.