# Downy Hawthorn (Crataegus mollis)

> Missouri's state flower, a broad native hawthorn that blooms early in spring, with soft, downy leaves and red haws up to an inch across.

Also called red haw, downy thorn, white thorn. Category: Nut & Fruit Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/downy-hawthorn/

![Downy hawthorn (Crataegus mollis) cluster of red downy haws among broad toothed leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/downy-hawthorn-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Agnieszka Kwiecień, CC BY-SA 4.0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACrataegus_mollis_G%C5%82%C3%B3g_2020-08-07_01.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Small tree
- Mature height: 20 to 40 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 3 to 8
- Grows wild in: Floodplain forests, sandy barrens, old fields and edges
- Native range: 23 states, north and west to North Dakota and south to Louisiana (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin). Also recorded in 9 other states, outside its native range
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Average, Dry, Wet
- Growth rate: Medium
- Traits: Showy flowers, Edible, Wildlife value, Drought tolerant, Tolerates wet soil
- 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

Downy hawthorn is one of the largest hawthorns, a broad, round-headed tree of the Midwest and the Mississippi Valley. Both its common and its Latin name come from the soft hairs on its young leaves and shoots. It was first known as white thorn, and it reached European gardens as early as 1683. Missouri made its blossom the state flower in 1923. It is also one of the few North American hawthorns grown for fruit, which makes jelly and preserves. Give it room at a field edge or in a big yard, where its early white bloom and red haws can be seen.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Downy hawthorn grows at a moderate pace, so our growth estimator gives it about a foot and a half a year. It reaches 20 to 40 feet and about as wide, on a short trunk with silvery, scaly bark. Hawthorns grown from seed take 5 to 8 years to bear fruit.

Flat clusters of white flowers about an inch across open in April and May, among the first hawthorns to bloom. The fruit is a red, downy haw up to an inch across that ripens in August and September and falls early. Its flesh is dry, mealy and only mildly tart. Songbirds, quail, wild turkeys and small mammals eat it. Hummingbirds and butterflies visit the flowers for nectar.

It grows wild west of the Appalachians, from eastern South Dakota and southwestern Ontario to southern Texas and central Alabama. It favors woodland edges, floodplain thickets, sandy hillsides and old fields. Scattered records farther east are misidentified plants or recent introductions.

## How to grow Downy Hawthorn

Downy hawthorn does best in full sun on a moist, fertile soil, and it takes part shade. It tolerates heavy clay, wet ground, drought and alkaline soil, but not salt air. Plant it away from eastern red cedar, which carries the rusts that attack it. Its thorns are sharp, so keep it back from paths and play areas. Set trees 20 feet apart, and keep each one 20 feet from a wall and 15 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. Seed needs a warm spell and then a long cold one. Sow cleaned seed outdoors in fall, and expect many seedlings only in the second spring. For a spring sowing, keep it damp at room temperature for two to four months, then in the refrigerator for four to six months.

Water weekly through the first summer, and in dry spells for the next two. Deer do browse hawthorn leaves and twigs, so cage each sapling for its first three years. It takes hard pruning and sprouts again from old wood, so it can be kept as a hedge. Prune in winter or early spring, as for other hawthorns.

Its flowers carry both male and female parts, and their scent, sometimes unpleasant, draws the midges that pollinate them. Downy hawthorn needs pollen from another tree to set fruit, so plant two or more from different seed. Midges drawn by the scent carry the pollen. The leaves are prone to cedar-hawthorn rust, scab and leaf blight, and by late summer they are often battered and drop early. Fire blight, leaf spots, scale and mites also trouble it.

## Sources

- [Flora of North America, vol. 9: Crataegus mollis, Phipps, with its five varieties](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242416344)
- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Crataegus mollis](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/crataegus-mollis/)
- [The Morton Arboretum: Downy hawthorn](https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/trees-and-plants/downy-hawthorn/)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Crataegus mollis](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CRMO2)
- [Missouri Department of Conservation Field Guide: Hawthorns](https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/hawthorns)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online: Crataegus mollis, Bean's text](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/crataegus/crataegus-mollis/)
- [Michigan Flora, University of Michigan Herbarium: Crataegus mollis](https://michiganflora.net/record/2465)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Crataegus chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Crataegus.pdf)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Crataegus mollis, standard record](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.135468/Crataegus_mollis)
- [Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Natural Heritage Resources of Virginia: Rare Plants, June 2026](https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/document/plantlist-current.pdf)

## 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)
- [Native trees for the Great Lakes and Midwest: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-the-great-lakes-and-midwest/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 Downy Hawthorn, add ?species=downy-hawthorn with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=downy-hawthorn&zone=3&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Downy Hawthorn](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=downy-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=downy-hawthorn
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Downy 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=downy-hawthorn
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Downy 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=downy-hawthorn:2
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Downy Hawthorn flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.