General Plant Information (Edit)
Plant Habit: Tree
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Full Sun
Water Preferences: Wet
Wet Mesic
Mesic
Dry Mesic
Dry
Minimum cold hardiness: Zone 3 -40 °C (-40 °F) to -37.2 °C (-35)
Maximum recommended zone: Zone 7b
Plant Height: 25-35 feet
Plant Spread: 25-35 feet
Leaves: Good fall color
Deciduous
Other: Obovate to oblong-obovate dark green leaves (to 3” long) have wedge-shaped bases. Foliage turns orange to scarlet to purple red in fall.
Fruit: Showy
Edible to birds
Other: Rounded fruits (3/8” diameter) that ripen in September-October and typically persist to late fall. Fruits are technically edible, but are usually best left for the birds. The fruit is sometimes called a haw.
Flowers: Showy
Malodorous
Flower Color: Pink
Purple
Red
White
Bloom Size: 1"-2"
Flower Time: Late spring or early summer
Underground structures: Taproot
Suitable Locations: Street Tree
Uses: Provides winter interest
Flowering Tree
Wildlife Attractant: Bees
Birds
Butterflies
Resistances: Drought tolerant
Pollinators: Midges
Containers: Not suitable for containers
Miscellaneous: With thorns/spines/prickles/teeth

Image
Common names
  • Cockspur Hawthorn
  • Lavallee's Hawthorn
Botanical names
  • Accepted: Crataegus crus-galli
  • Synonym: Crataegus x lavallei
  • Synonym: Crataegus lavallei
Also sold as:
  • Crataegus x lavalleei

Photo Gallery
Location: Glen Ellyn, Illinois
Date: 2023-10-20
full-grown tree in fruit
Location: Glen Ellyn, Illinois
Date: 2023-10-20
fruit and foliage
Location: Northeastern, Texas
Date: 2018-04-30
Location: University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Crataegus x lavallei
Location: Botanical Garden Copenhagen
Date: 2016-12-01

Date: 2012-12-14
Location: Botanical Garden Copenhagen
Date: 2016-12-01
Location: Northeastern, Texas
Date: 2015-07-15
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Date: 2010-08-16
informal specimens at pool at Art Museum

Date: c. 1892
illustration by C. E. Faxon from Sargent's 'Silva of North Americ
Location: Northeastern, Texas
Date: 2018-04-30

Date: c. 1902
illustration [of var. pyracanthifolia] by C. E. Faxon from Sargen

Date: c. 1902
illustration [as C. fecunda] by C. E. Faxon from Sargent's 'Silva
Location: Botanical Garden Copenhagen
Date: 2016-12-01
Location: Botanical Garden Copenhagen
Date: 2016-12-01

Date: 2014-07-27
Location: Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois
Date: 2015-06-19
mature specimen in summer
Location: Northeastern, Texas
Date: 2015-08-10
Location: Northeastern, Texas
Date: 2015-08-11

Date: 2012-12-14

Date: 2012-12-14

Date: 2012-12-14

Date: 2012-12-14

Date: 2012-12-14

Date: 2012-12-14

Date: 2012-12-14

Date: 2012-12-14

Date: 2014-07-27

Date: 2012-12-14
Location: near Sandusky, Ohio
Date: 2017-09-10
a planted specimen at a McDonald's parking lot
Location: Cantigny Park in Wheaton, IL
Date: late May in 1980's
specimen in bloom
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Date: 2010-08-16
summer foliage and long thorns
Location: near Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Date: 2012-10-13
a wild tree in a meadow
Location: near Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Date: 2015-10-07
fruit of a wild tree
Comments:
  • Posted by ILPARW (southeast Pennsylvania - Zone 6b) on Jan 1, 2018 3:45 PM concerning plant:
    Cockspur Hawthorn has a native range from western new England & southwest Quebec & southeast Ontario, to all of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky, most of Maryland and Indiana, southeast Michigan, and southeast Illinois, and northern Tennessee, growing lowland wet mesic and bottomlands to upland dry open woods and fields. It grows about 1 foot/year and lives about 75 to 100 years. It has small, oval glossy, thick leaves 1 to 4 inches long and widest and toothed above the middle, and turn orange to red sort of late in autumn. It bears lots of sharp 3 to 4 inch long thorns on the twigs. It bears white, dense flat-topped flower clusters in late May to mid-June. It bears red apple-like berries in mid-August lasting until January. It eventually develops a taproot, but it is easy to transplant B&B as a young tree. It has been the second most sold hawthorn in the Eastern and Midwestern US, after the Washington Hawthorn for decades, though the "Winter King' Green Hawthorn may now be the most commonly planted because of its great fruit display. It is somewhat commonly used by landscape architects on estates, professional landscapes, parks, campuses, and public areas.
  • Posted by Mindy03 (Delta KY) on Apr 1, 2012 3:27 PM concerning plant:
    Honey bees get nectar, yellow brown pollen and honeydew from this plant.
Discussion Threads about this plant
Thread Title Last Reply Replies
I think I'm a splitter, not a lumper... by scvirginia Feb 10, 2021 7:46 PM 0

« Add a new plant to the database

« The Plants Database Front Page

Today's site banner is by RootedInDirt and is called "Plant Combo "

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.