# Western Mayhaw (Crataegus opaca)

> The mayhaw of the Gulf states, a thorny hawthorn of wet river bottoms that blooms white in February and ripens red fruit for jelly in May.

Also called riverflat hawthorn, apple haw. Category: Nut & Fruit Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/western-mayhaw/

![Western mayhaw (Crataegus opaca) white flowers with reddish anthers on a bare twig in early spring](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/western-mayhaw-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Laura Clark, CC BY 4.0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACrataegus_opaca.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Small tree
- Mature height: 20 to 30 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 6 to 9
- Grows wild in: Floodplain forests, stream banks, swamps and wet flats
- Native range: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Average, Wet
- Growth rate: Medium
- Traits: Edible, Tolerates wet soil, Showy flowers, Wildlife value
- 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

Western mayhaw grows on the western Gulf Coastal Plain, and its new shoots and leaf undersides are rusty-hairy. Seven of the nine named mayhaws that Payne and Krewer listed in 1990 are this species, picked from wild trees in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. Those selections tend to bloom a few days ahead of the eastern mayhaw, Crataegus aestivalis, a separate species farther east. Give it a sunny low spot where water stands after winter rains, and pick the fruit for jelly in May.

## Size, growth and what to expect

No source rates the growth of western mayhaw, so our growth estimator treats it as a medium grower, about a foot and a half a year. It makes a small tree of 20 to 30 feet with a narrow, rounded crown. Orchard trees live long and can spread 30 feet across in 17 to 20 years. Hawthorns grown from seed take 5 to 8 years to bear fruit.

White flowers open in February and March, before or with the new leaves, in small clusters. The fruit ripens in May and June, red or sometimes yellow, about half an inch across, fragrant and juicy. A 15-year-old tree of the selection Super Spur yielded 60 kilograms, about 130 pounds, in Louisiana. Wildlife eats the fruit and shelters in the thorny crown.

It grows wild from east Texas and southern Arkansas to Alabama and west Florida, and it is most common in Louisiana. Its home is seasonally flooded hollows, ditches, sinkholes and streamsides, and the Wildflower Center lists it as an obligate wetland plant.

## How to grow Western Mayhaw

Western mayhaw takes full sun or part shade, and in the wild it grows under bottomland hardwoods. It tolerates wet, very acid soil and seasonal flooding. It grows better, though, on a moist, well-drained, slightly acid soil of pH 6.0 to 6.5. Set trees 15 feet apart, and keep each one 15 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. Sow the cleaned seed outdoors in early fall, a quarter inch deep. Seedlings come up the next spring. For a spring sowing, keep the seed damp in the refrigerator for six to eight weeks first. Fresh, undried fruit fermented for four to eight days before cleaning gave 93 percent germination in one test. Seed quality varies a great deal from tree to tree.

Water weekly through the first summer, and in dry spells for the next two. Deer and rabbits can wipe out young mayhaws quickly, so guard each sapling with wire for its first three years. Train it to one trunk, with the first branches 18 inches or more off the ground. Thin the crown a little each year, since most selections need the light to fruit well.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, and native bees visit the early bloom. Many seedlings bear fruit like the mother tree, since much of the seed is a clone of it. Plum curculio can badly damage the fruit, and aphids and borers also feed on the tree. Quince rust is the most common disease, and it was severe in East Texas in 1990. Brown rot and fire blight also occur, though fire blight is seldom serious.

## Sources

- [Flora of North America, vol. 9: Crataegus opaca, Phipps](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250100141)
- [Payne, J.A. and G.W. Krewer. 1990. Mayhaw: a new fruit crop for the South. In: Janick and Simon (eds.), Advances in new crops, Timber Press, p. 317-321](https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1990/v1-317.html)
- [USDA NRCS Plant Fact Sheet: Mayhaw, Crataegus opaca, Moore, edited 2000 and 2006](https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/factsheet/pdf/fs_crop.pdf)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Crataegus opaca](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CROP)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Crataegus chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Crataegus.pdf)
- [Texas A&M AgriLife, Aggie Horticulture: Mayhaw, Baker and McEachern, January 27, 1997](http://web.archive.org/web/20260822075617/https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/fruit-nut/fact-sheets/mayhaw/)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Crataegus opaca](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.135096/Crataegus_opaca)
- [Plants For A Future: Crataegus opaca](https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Crataegus+opaca)

## 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)
- [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)
- [Native trees and shrubs for butterflies and moths: host plants first, nectar second](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-butterflies-and-moths/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Western Mayhaw, add ?species=western-mayhaw with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=western-mayhaw&zone=6&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Western Mayhaw](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=western-mayhaw): 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=western-mayhaw
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Western Mayhaw 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=western-mayhaw
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Western Mayhaw 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=western-mayhaw:1
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Western Mayhaw flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.