A genus in the rose family, Crataegus , as botanists call it, is now recognized to have about 280 species found in northern temperate regions, including North America, Europe, and northern Asia. Botanists would do the world a favor if they reduced the entire genus Crataegus to a single species. The group is a taxonomic nightmare. Sixty or more species are known from Europe and Asia, so North America is certainly the center of distribution and diversity for the genus. The generic name Crataegus is derived from a Greek word kratus , or strength, referring to the hardness of the wood.
Hawthorns are large shrubs or small trees usually with dark brown bark, flaking in scales.
A prominent feature of the branches is stout or slender, solitary or branched spines. The delicate, small rose-like flowers are beautiful and abundant, helping to earn the tree a place of ornament in parks and lawns despite the nasty spines protecting the trunk. The flesh is mealy and dry, like that of rosehips. It is distinguished by its three to five-lobed leaves and blossoms with a purplish tint. This, too, is the species most often listed as a medicinal plant in herbals of European and American tradition, though many species are used interchangeably for medicinal purposes.