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Prunus spinosa
Prunus spinosa, called blackthorn or sloe, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It is native to Europe and West Asia, and has been naturalized in parts of North America.
The fruits are used to make sloe gin in Great Britain and patxaran in Basque Country. The wood is used to make walking sticks, including the Irish shillelagh.
Prunus spinosa is a large deciduous shrub or small tree growing to 5 metres (16 ft) tall, with blackish bark and dense, stiff, spiny branches. The leaves are oval, 2–4.5 centimetres (3⁄4–1+3⁄4 inches) long and 1.2–2 cm (1⁄2–3⁄4 in) broad, with a serrated margin. The flowers are about 1.5 cm (1⁄2 in) in diameter, with five creamy-white petals; they are produced shortly before the leaves in early spring, and are hermaphroditic and insect-pollinated. The fruit, called a "sloe", is a drupe 10–12 millimetres (3⁄8–1⁄2 in) in diameter, black with a purple-blue waxy bloom, ripening in autumn. In the United Kingdom, they are traditionally harvested in October or November, after the first frosts, as this makes the skin softer and easier to process for the purposes of making sloe gin. Sloes are thin-fleshed, with a very strongly astringent flavour when fresh. Its fruit persists for an average of 36.7 days, and bears an average of 1 seed per fruit. Fruits average 77.6% water, and their dry weight includes 10.6% carbohydrates and 0.6% lipids.
Blackthorn usually grows as a bush but can grow to become a tree to a height of 6 m (20 ft). Its branches usually grow forming a tangle.
Prunus spinosa is frequently confused with the related P. cerasifera (cherry plum), particularly in early spring when the latter starts flowering somewhat earlier than P. spinosa.[citation needed] They can be distinguished by flower colour, pure white in P. spinosa, creamy white in P. cerasifera. In addition, the sepals are bent backwards in P. cerasifera, but not in P. spinosa. They can be distinguished in winter by the shrubbier habit with stiffer, wider-angled branches of P. spinosa; in summer by the relatively narrower leaves of P. spinosa, more than twice as long as broad;[page needed] and in autumn by the colour of the fruit skin purplish black in P. spinosa and yellow or red in P. cerasifera.
Prunus spinosa has a tetraploid (2n=4x=32) set of chromosomes.
Like many other fruits with pits, the pit of the sloe contains trace amounts of hydrogen cyanide.
The specific name spinosa is a Latin term indicating the pointed and thornlike spur shoots characteristic of this species. The common name blackthorn is due to the thorny nature of the shrub, and possibly its very dark bark: it has a much darker bark than the white-thorn (hawthorn), to which it is contrasted.
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Prunus spinosa
Prunus spinosa, called blackthorn or sloe, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It is native to Europe and West Asia, and has been naturalized in parts of North America.
The fruits are used to make sloe gin in Great Britain and patxaran in Basque Country. The wood is used to make walking sticks, including the Irish shillelagh.
Prunus spinosa is a large deciduous shrub or small tree growing to 5 metres (16 ft) tall, with blackish bark and dense, stiff, spiny branches. The leaves are oval, 2–4.5 centimetres (3⁄4–1+3⁄4 inches) long and 1.2–2 cm (1⁄2–3⁄4 in) broad, with a serrated margin. The flowers are about 1.5 cm (1⁄2 in) in diameter, with five creamy-white petals; they are produced shortly before the leaves in early spring, and are hermaphroditic and insect-pollinated. The fruit, called a "sloe", is a drupe 10–12 millimetres (3⁄8–1⁄2 in) in diameter, black with a purple-blue waxy bloom, ripening in autumn. In the United Kingdom, they are traditionally harvested in October or November, after the first frosts, as this makes the skin softer and easier to process for the purposes of making sloe gin. Sloes are thin-fleshed, with a very strongly astringent flavour when fresh. Its fruit persists for an average of 36.7 days, and bears an average of 1 seed per fruit. Fruits average 77.6% water, and their dry weight includes 10.6% carbohydrates and 0.6% lipids.
Blackthorn usually grows as a bush but can grow to become a tree to a height of 6 m (20 ft). Its branches usually grow forming a tangle.
Prunus spinosa is frequently confused with the related P. cerasifera (cherry plum), particularly in early spring when the latter starts flowering somewhat earlier than P. spinosa.[citation needed] They can be distinguished by flower colour, pure white in P. spinosa, creamy white in P. cerasifera. In addition, the sepals are bent backwards in P. cerasifera, but not in P. spinosa. They can be distinguished in winter by the shrubbier habit with stiffer, wider-angled branches of P. spinosa; in summer by the relatively narrower leaves of P. spinosa, more than twice as long as broad;[page needed] and in autumn by the colour of the fruit skin purplish black in P. spinosa and yellow or red in P. cerasifera.
Prunus spinosa has a tetraploid (2n=4x=32) set of chromosomes.
Like many other fruits with pits, the pit of the sloe contains trace amounts of hydrogen cyanide.
The specific name spinosa is a Latin term indicating the pointed and thornlike spur shoots characteristic of this species. The common name blackthorn is due to the thorny nature of the shrub, and possibly its very dark bark: it has a much darker bark than the white-thorn (hawthorn), to which it is contrasted.