Copyright © 1990-2023 by Robert Dale Rogers. All rights reserved.
No portion of this book, except for a brief review, may be reproduced or copied and transmitted, without permission of author. This book is for educational purposes only. The suggestions, recipes and historical information are not meant to replace a medical advisor. The author assumes no liability for unwise or unsafe usage by readers of this book.
BLACK HAWTHORN
(Crataegus douglasii Lindl.)
RED HAWTHORN
(C. chrysocarpa)
GOLDEN FRUITED HAWTHORN
(C. chrysocarpa Ashe)
(C. rotundifolia Moench p.p. non Lamb)
(C. columbiana var. chrysocarpa [Ashe] Dorn)
LONG SPINED HAWTHORN
FLESHY HAWTHORN
(C. succulenta Schrad ex Link)
CHOCOLATE HAWTHORN
(C. erythropoda Ashe.)
(C. cerronis Nels.)
ASIAN HAWTHORN
(C. pinnatifida Bunge)
LARGE FRUITED HAWTHORN
(C. pinnatifida var. major [NEBr.] W. Lee)
PARTS USED- spines, leaves, flowers, berries (haws).
You are the Hawthorn bush;
in spring you clothe yourself in white,
at harvest time you dress in blood red.
You rip the fleeces of sheep which pass beneath you.
In the same way you pluck any evil,
impurity or wrath of the gods from this initiate,
who walks through the gate of your hedge.
HITTITE PRAYER
A fair maid who, the first of May
Goes to the fields at the break of day
And washes in dew from the hawthorn tree
Will ever after handsome be.
ENGLISH SAYING
A thievish clown by cruel thorns opprest
Shows in the moon that honesty pays best.
The Hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade,
For talking age and whispering lovers made.
OLIVER GOLDSMITH
The risen cream of all the milkiness of May-time.
H. E. BATES
INTRODUCTION
Crataegus is from Greek KRATOS, meaning strength, mainly due to strong nature of the wood. Words ending in Cracy, like democracy, and aristocracy, stem from the same root.
AGOS is from the Greek, and means bringing. Krataigos, the name given by Theophrastus, a Greek botanist of 3rd century BC means, “bringing strength”. Or, Aegus may stem from the Greek AKIS, meaning thorn, or AKE, sharp point. Then, Krataigos means strong point or thorn, also a good description of the thorny tree.
The first century BC pharmacologist, Crateuas was honored with the nickname of Rizotomos. This refers to traditional herbalists known as Rizotomoi, or root cutters.
The common name Hawthorn is from Anglo-Saxon HAGUTHORN, meaning a fence with thorns, from early use as a hedge. Black is from the blackish-purple colour of the fruit when ripe.
Douglasii is named for David Douglas, Scottish botanist and explorer, who made several trips to explore British Columbia and Oregon in the early 1800s. He has numerous plants (Douglas Fir) named in his honor.
He returned to North America in 1830, traveled in California, made botanical trips in British Columbia, wrecking his canoe on the Fraser River and losing his journals and collections of plants. He visited Hawaii in 1834, accidentally fell into a pit trap, and was gored to death by a wild bull.
In ancient Greece, a spring bride would wear a corona of hawthorn flowers, while her daidouchos, or torchbearer, carried a wedding torch of hawthorn wood smeared with pine resin. Hawthorn was dedicated to Hymen, the god of marriage, as a symbol of hope.
In Turkey, the gift of a hawthorn branch implies a kiss is expected.
This was the May tree, and in England a hawthorn wreath served as the female symbol surrounding the phallic pole. The gathering of hawthorn blossoms was known as “going a-Maying”. Traditional May Day festivities are times of courtship, dancing and love-making in the woods.
Some authors suggest the flower’s heavy scent is somewhat erotic, and reminiscent of female sexual secretions, but I believe that is overstated.
The strange burnt rubber smell was believed to carry the Great Plague, according to some sources. In the 19th century, the sickly scent of hawthorn was identified with sickrooms and death. Today, there are many people that will not permit the flowers in their home. The scent of Hawthorn blossoms is due in part to trimethylamine, a by-product of tissue decay. Trimethylamine scent stimulates the pulse rate slightly and has a peripheral vasoconstrictor effect.
It is said that bringing a flowering branch into the house gives one year of bad luck.
Other legends say it grew from a branch of the Holy Thorn, brought to England from the Holy Land by Joseph of Arimathea. He thrust his staff into the ground, and it took root and leafed. It is said to bloom twice a year, once in spring, and at midnight on January 6th, the Orthodox date of Christmas. The tree is the biflora variety of C. monogyna that in fact does bloom winter and spring. A slip of the tree now grows on the grounds of the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.
In the Druid tree alphabet it represents the letter H (uath), fertility, and the 23rd Nordic Rune, Odal.
An old English name for hawthorn buds, when just expanding, was Lady’s Meat. King Henry VII, the first of the Tudor dynasty, named the Hawthorn shrub his badge of honour.
Superstitious Roman mothers stuck hawthorn leaves in baby’s cradles to ward off evil. The tree was sacred and related to Cardea, the goddess of childbirth, and guardian of the threshold between the past and future.
The Irish called the trees Fairy Thorns, a place for wee folk to meet. Hawthorn was considered, in medieval Europe, to be a witch’s favourite, especially on Walpurgis Night.
One of the first hawthorn goddesses was Olwen, daughter of Yspaddaden Pencawr to Celts of Wales. She was the virginal aspect of the White Goddess, and it was said that white trefoils (clover?) grew where she walked. The Welsh goddess Blodeuwedd was associated as well, and formed from nine types of flowers for the Celtic Sun God.
In Brittany, Viviane enchanted Merlin to sleep under the tree until he re-awakened in another age. In the Mabinogion, Culhwych,
the nephew to King Arthur, has to fulfill 39 tasks set by the Giant Hawthorn, to marry his daughter Olwen—“She of the White Trace”.
In Iceland, hawthorn is known as SVEFNTHORN, or sleep thorn. Odin used a thorn to send Brunhilde into a magical sleep.
The Christians, of course, counteracted the sexual significance by having Jesus wear the crown of thorns from hawthorn. Some beautiful woodcarvings of hawthorn leaves and flowers can be found in churches.
Before 1899, only 65 species were known, but today there are more than a thousand. Red Hawthorn is the official state flower of Missouri, C. monogyna, the official emblem of Estonia.
Boiled hawthorn roots have been used in many cultures for back pain, by helping “bring strength” to the spine. In the Doctrine of Signatures, a spine from a plant must indicate support for our spine.
Spines of Black Hawthorn were used by Native americans to pierce ears, pop boils, lance splinters, make fish hooks and game pieces.
The wood is very hard grained and durable, for tool handles and weapons. Digging sticks were sharpened into a chisel point at one end and fire hardened to temper.
Black Hawthorn was known to the Cheyenne of Montana as bear branch berry. They were gathered when ripe and dried for winter use.
In fact, one Haida name for the thorns, STLII.N, means literally spine, thorn or quill of a porcupine.
Hawthorn and other members of rose family contain proanthocyanidins discussed below. When tent caterpillars, for example, attack one side of a grove, eggs laid on the other side when hatched were denied a source of food by inedible anthocyanidins excreted at the other side. This helps prevent total foliage destruction, another example of plant’s protecting themselves.
An interesting genetic experiment was conducted with gypsy moths in 1966. The colony was about to die from in-breeding and a diet of alder leaves, and made a complete recovery when fed hawthorn leaves, becoming stronger and larger.
The Cree named the relatively rare round-leaved Hawthorn MISIKAMIN-AKASKOSE meaning “large thorn plant”.
The Nlaka’pamux or Thompson, used the fruit, and bark decoctions for relieving diarrhea; making sure the bark was collected from the side facing the rising sun. They made a decoction of sap, bark, wood or root as a stomach medicine; the bark or cambium layers, inner side down, for chest pains.
Other tribes used root tea for backaches, and soaked the flowers and leaves in boiling water for cough medicine.
Red or gold-fruited Hawthorn comes about because the fruit is either red or yellow orange in colour, sometimes both on the same tree.
The Blackfoot know C. chrysocarpa as Foot Blister Berries or Fire Berry, as well as L’KAASI’MIIN.
The Kwakiutl chewed the leaves, and applied them to swellings. The Bella Coola believed that eating too many berries would attract visitations from supernatural beings.
Further east, the Chippewa gathered the ripe haws of MINE’SAGA’WUNJ and squeezed them together into cakes without cooking. The cakes were dried on birch bark and then stored for winter cooking. A decoction of roots of C. aestivalis was used for back pain, up to a quart daily.
The Forest Potawatomi used the fruit to cure stomach complaints. They call it thorn bush or MINESAGA’WIC.
The Meskawi used un-ripe fruit to treat bladder conditions.
The Mohawk used C. punctata wood chips with Malus species shoots and bark as a hypotensive remedy to stop menstrual bleeding.
The Cayunga peoples used C. submollis with pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus) as magical antidote for the lovelorn, according to Diana Beresford-Kroeger. The leaves were dried and smoked, or flavored with fruit juices and dried again for a more pleasant pipe.
The pips or nutlets inside the fruit were dried and ground to make a coffee-like beverage. Diana Beresford-Kroeger, in The Global Forest, suggests these nutlets contain high amounts of caffeine. The seeds may be roasted for additional flavour.
The first recorded, written use of hawthorn was for gout by Petrus de Crescentis in 1305. From then, until the 1890s, Hawthorn was used mainly for dropsy, kidney stones and as a digestive aid.
An Irish physician, Dr. Green, first used a tincture of the fresh berries for cardiac problems. In Devon and the Isle of Man, flowers and berries were used as a heart tonic. In the Scottish Highlands, hawthorn tea was taken to balance blood pressure. One report from East Anglia indicated leaf decoctions ease labour pain, in the manner of raspberry leaf. In Ireland, the dried bark is steeped in black tea as a toothache cure.
In 1917, the famous Eclectic herbalist John Uri Lloyd published a Treatise on Crataegus. He and his brother prepared tinctures from an American species they never identified, but declared it superior to any others. This followed the work of Dr. Jennings in 1896, and Dr. Ellingwood in 1907.
Under outer bark is a layer of white inner bark suitable for cords, and ropes. Fishing nets made of interwoven hawthorn bark are strong and rot resistant.
The young leaves are edible raw, and can be added to salads, or cooked as greens. In Germany, the leaves are dried and made into a tea that is considered as pleasing as Chinese Green Tea. Sometimes the leaves are mixed with those of Black Currant as a refreshing infused hot beverage.
The green buds can be added to salads, especially good in new potato salad. In England, the buds are used to make a suet pudding, with a light crust rolled out long and thin and the surface dotted with the buds and thin strips of bacon. This is rolled up, sealed and steamed for an hour or more.
The young flowers have an unusual smell, and can be added to desserts and drinks, including a delicate wine. In England, it was believed that hawthorn flowers preserved the stench of London during the Black Plague. Others consider the smell sexy, and hence its association with spring and weddings.
The scent is actually caused to attract fertilization by carrion insects. They are attracted by its perfume, and later hatch their larvae in decaying matter.
The fruit was an important food for various tribes. They would dry and grind them into a meal that could be mixed with flour to make a mush, or with animal fat to make pemmican. A jelly made from equal parts of mountain ash berry and haw berry is quite tart and tasty.
In Europe, a liqueur is made from the berries. When collecting berry clusters, a convenient spine is usually left on the stem, making it easy to tack them to a cork or cardboard base.
An old weather proverb says, “Many Haws, Many Sloes, cold toes.” If the berries are thick on the hawthorn, you had better get ready for a cold winter.
Hawthorn, as a cardiovascular tonic, is helpful for racehorses and working dogs under blood pressure stress.
Later in life, of course, it can be used for support of older animals with congestive heart failure, damage from heartworm, or various viral and bacterial infections.
Hawthorn tincture made from fresh berries can be given to livestock to prevent miscarriage.
Hawthorn bark has an interesting property, useful for survival skills. The bark is peeled off the tree when wet and allowed to dry. When needed, the bark is moistened and placed by a fire to absorb heat.
When warmed, the fibre can be stretched, making it pliable and easy to work. It can then be applied to areas of fracture after the bones are set, and as the bark cools it shrinks and forms a durable cast.
Hawthorn wood makes excellent fuel, producing the hottest wood fire known. It is more desirable than oak for oven heating, and the charcoal made from wood is said to melt pig iron without the aid of a blast furnace.
The leaves contain hormones that influence growth and development of caterpillars, as well as bio-chemicals that produce adenosine triphosphate or ATP.
The substance RN 30/9 stimulates growth hormone in caterpillars, helping them grow into a stronger butterflies for migration.
Cosmetic and hair care products containing hawthorn extracts are used for anti-seborrheic and anti-inflammatory activity, and to increase hydration and elasticity of skin. This is based, in part, on a study conducted by Longhi et al, Fitoterapia 1984 55:2.
Hawthorn extracts are often made from the stems, with a pH of 5-7. In one study of twenty male teens, prone to acne and oily skin, the group was divided in two. One group of ten applied ethanol/ water extract twice daily for four days; while the others used a 20% hawthorn extract. The latter group showed a 35% decrease in total acne lesions, with a 69% decrease in P. acnes bacteria on skin.
UV-induced erythema was reduced 25% in another study.
The introduced Asian Hawthorn (C. pinnatifida) is fully hardy to the prairies, with a hardiness rating of 10 from Morden Research Centre. The large fruit variety, major, is especially interesting.
The fruit is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for circulatory issues, and digestive complaints. Known as SHAN ZHA, the un- cooked fruit is used for postpartum abdominal pain due to blood stasis with retention of the lochia, the uterus not returning to normal position after birthing; amenorrhea due to blood stasis, inguinal hernia, or swelling of the scrotum or testicles associated with Qi stagnation.
The stir-fried fruit is warmer and more astringent, and used for food stagnation, loss of appetite; combining well with stir-fried radish seed and germinated barley. The fruit is used locally in soft drinks.
High-end restaurants in New York and Paris are adding hawthorn berries to their menus.
Two common, spineless cultivars, Toba and Snowbird, were developed years ago at Morden, crossing English Hawthorn (C. laevigata), and our native C. succulenta.
The latter is highly susceptible to cedar apple rust, which can co-host with apple trees. The hybrid is very resistant to this rust and is called C. x mordenensis.
Other hardy species are C. crus-galli, C. chrysocarpa, C. chlorosarca, C. cerronis, C. arnoldiana and C. mollis.
Chocolate Hawthorn is a small native tree that derives its name from the fruit colour, not its flavour. Unfortunately!
MEDICINAL
CONSTITUENTS - flavonoids, including vitexin 4’-xyloside and other C-glycosyl flavones, 1-3% oligomeric procyanidins or pycnogenols, including 1-epicatechol, procyanidin B2 and C1, various triterpene acids including oleanolic, ursolic and crataegolic acids, purines, cholines, acetylcholines, sterols tri-methylamine, chlorogenic acid, as well as Vitamin C, sugars, rutin.
Bark- esculin (6-glucoside of esculetin)
Leaves- cratemons, amygdalin, luteolin-7-0-glucosides, hyperoside, hyperin, rutin and other flavonoids, including highest source of vitexin, as well as isovitexin, orientin and isoorientin.
Flowers- hyperosides, 2-0-rhamnosylvitexin (a flavone C-glycoside)
C. monogyna- seed- 85.7% alpha tocotrienol.
Hawthorn berry, leaf and flower are all heart tonics, slow and gentle in action, but strengthening the heart function overtime. The herb is a mild vasodilator, increasing the supply of blood to heart muscles, thus reducing the chance of spasms, angina and shortness of breath in the elderly. Studies have shown berry extracts help decrease lactic acid during angina attacks.
Many stage one patients of cardiovascular risk have no symptoms at rest, but experience shortness of breath with exercise. These individuals will find much benefit from daily hawthorn preparations.
In moderate hypertension, when pulse and blood pressure are slow to return to normal after workouts, snow shoveling, or walking up flights of stairs, hawthorn will help.
It will gradually lower the diastolic (the lower of the two numbers) pressure and calm the pulse, and soothe arrhythmia associated with functional weakness. Tachycardia, or episodes of rapidly beating heart are well suited to daily administration of hawthorn.
Its greatest use is in slowing down and preventing degenerative heart disorders in a safe and gradual manner. It enhances myocardial contractibility, and yet dilates coronary arteries.
It does possess beta blocking activity, and ACE inhibition, both of which are of real value in cardio-protection.
Hawthorn widens coronary arteries by increasing nitric oxide production, perhaps due in part to the procyanidin content.
One randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 72 patients with exercise induced cardiac disturbance, was conducted for eight weeks. Oxygen uptake and anaerobic threshold increased compared to controls. In another trial, 600 mg of extract daily for 4-8 weeks, taken by 78 patients showed significant improvement. Another study of 85 patients taking only 300 mg daily showed no statistical difference, suggesting the range of effective therapy.
Trimethylene, ethanolamine and ethylamine open urinary circulation and secretion of ACE, while coumarins produce urination, hypotension and reduced anxiety.
This is of use in obesity with hyperlipidemia and menopause, when excessive sweats, lack of sleep, and aches, pains and weight gain are problem.
In Parkinson’s tremor, hawthorn helps calm anxiety and gives support for a vegetative parasympathetic activity to reduce muscular spasms. It is worth a trial with multiple sclerosis, due to its muscular and circulatory influence.
The flavonoids dilate coronary and external arteries, and like other members of the rose family, hawthorn is astringent and useful in diarrhea and heavy menstrual bleeding.
Procyanidins, most prevalent in August leaves, slow the heart beat and are antibiotic. Bersin et al, 1955. These are similar to the procyanidins in grape seed extracts.
Crataegus is a natural calcium-channel blocker due to phosphodiesterase inhibition. The increased intracellular calcium levels lead to sustained myocardial contractibility. Early work suggested a mechanism known as phosphodiesterase 3 inhibition. PDE-3 breaks down cAMP, and you can slow its breakdown by inhibiting the PDE-3 that disables it. This is the mechanism in heart drugs such as Primacor and Inocor. In the heart, cAMP allows calcium stored there to be released and increase active calcium concentrations inside heart muscle cells. This causes them to contract, and pump blood more forcefully. In blood vessels, increased cAMP relaxes muscles and allows the blood to flow more easily and blood pressure drops.
New evidence suggests that hawthorn may block the flow of potassium ions in the heart and is therefore a potassium channel blocker.
Calcium, sodium and potassium ions are all involved in heart rhythm regulation. Hawthorn may delay the recharging action of potassium ions like a type III anti-arrhythmic drug. The heart takes longer to recharge, preventing abnormal, fast arrhythmias of the heart.
Matthew Wood relates a story in his book The Earthwise Herbal about Jennifer Tucker, an herbalist in Pennsylvania. A woman came to her with a 4-5 month old boy with a small aorta that needed surgery. She gave the baby hawthorn and at the next checkup the doctor exclaimed, “what did you do to this baby?” He quickly explained the artery was now normal in size.
Recent work on leaf and flower extracts suggests inhibition of extracellular calcium entry into calcium-depleted neutrophils. Dalli et al, Pharmacol Res 2008 May 8.
Work by Rodriguez et al, J Med Food 2008 11:4 examined the influence of berry, leaf and flower extracts versus berry only, on rat cardiomyocytes. The former showed initiation of robust calcium transients and overload, whereas the fruit only increased calcium sparking, initiation of calcium transients and increased beating rate with no calcium overload. The implication for humans is uncertain, but suggestive.
A meta-analysis of eight double-blind trials on 632 patients with chronic heart failure concluded hawthorn significantly improved the heart’s “maximum workload” as well as heart rate, blood pressure, dyspnea and fatigue. Pittler et al, Am J Med 2003 114:8.
Hawthorn may modify left ventricle remodeling. Huang et al, Cardiovas Drug Ther 2008 22:1.
Both beta-phenethylamine and O-methoxy beta phenethylamine are alkaloids that provide sedative action on the CNS. This makes it valuable for patients who fear flying, agoraphobia, or individuals with fear of death.
A study by Della Loggia et al, Rivista di Neurologia 1981 suggests hawthorn may help Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyper- activity Disorder (ADD/ADHD). Hawthorn extracts relieve anxiety, restlessness and acting out in children.
The herb not only increases circulation to the brain, but stops the inflammation caused by allergies; which give the brain more information than its can process efficiently.
Hawthorn and Green Flowering Oats are a good combination for mood swings associated with menopause, as well as some bipolar conditions.
It combines well with rose hips for varicose vein weakness associated with cardiovascular weakness.
Hawthorn berry combines well with Lobelia for recovering heroin or alkaloid addicts; and with yarrow and linden flowers for those suffering hypertension, associated with atherosclerosis and plaque in arteries.
Combine with Prickly Ash bark to treat poor peripheral circulation and exhaustion, and with cedar (Thuja) for cardiac weakness associated with chronic bronchitis.
It should be noted that the berries help lower blood pressure, while the flowers increase circulation but can be used safely in those suffering low blood pressure. It should be noted hawthorn may be useful in hypotension, if the picture pattern fits.
The leaves contain amygdalin, that is sedative and increases the parasympathetic tone of the heart.
Berry syrup can strengthen connective tissue that is weakened by excessive inflammatory response. The high levels of flavonoids are probably responsible for reduction of chronic inflammation, and stabilization of collagen in cartilage, reducing joint damage. Collagen is the principal protein in bone, suggesting use to prevent or repair fractures.
Combine with horsetail and cattail pollen for bone and joint problems and with gravel root, marshmallow root and oak bark for ligaments, tendons and other degenerative connective tissues.
Flower extracts prevent the formation of thromboxane A2, a hormone involved in inflammation.
Hawthorn berry contains a bioflavonoid, procyanadin B2, which helps stabilize connective tissue, and prevent capillary fragility. Collagen strands in connective tissue are bridged by procyanadin B2, which preferentially interacts with blood vessels.
Both leaves and berries are heat sensitive, so boiling probably reduces their effectiveness. Bladder infections and kidney disturbances are helped with dried flower or fruit teas. The saponins in fruit cause reduction of bowel surface tension and improved transport of nutrients. The high emulsifying effect improves excretion of uric acid, one-third of which is broken down in the bowel.
Hawthorn combines well with goldenrod in the treatment of kidney failure, by improving blood circulation through renal arteries, without increasing blood pressure.
I formerly did some work with New Era Nutrition for a nutraceutical company, Prairie Sun. We developed a hawthorn berry-rich food bar, and hot cereal designed for cardiovascular health. It never made it to market.
Crataegus is probably a general cell stimulant. Dr. E. Holtzem, Pharmacological Institute of Bonn University Germany, checked feeding experiments with the fruit fly and hawthorn leaves. Compared with the control group, he found in a group of five generations, a distinct increase in offspring. Feedings with pure oleander acid, one of the triterpene acids of hawthorn, produced the same result.
Oleandrin, also present in Oleander leaves, is an aglycone closely related to the digitoxin of foxglove. It is toxic in large amounts.
Fourteen clinical studies on therapeutic efficacy of hawthorn in 808 heart patients were published between 1981 and 1994. Almost all of the studies showed improvement in clinical symptoms, even in doses less than 300 mg/day.
A Cochrane review of 14 studies showed it worked significantly better than placebo with mild or no side-effects. Pittler et al, Cochrane Databases of Systemic Reviews 2008:1.
A meta-analysis by researchers at the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, England, looked at 8 trials with 632 patients suffering chronic heart failure, and found hawthorn significantly better than placebo.
A recent placebo-controlled study of 143 men and women with average age 64, and mild congestive heart failure, looked at fresh hawthorn berry extracts or placebo, three times daily for eight weeks.
Significant exercise tolerance was realized by hawthorn patients versus those taking placebo. Phytomedicine 2003 10.
A two-year German study of 952 patients revealed palpitations, stress dyspnea and fatigue reduced by hawthorn extract.
Hawthorn combines well with Valerian root for high blood pressure, or as a sedative for nervous heart conditions.
Hawthorn extracts may protect the heart, liver, and pancreas from effects of a glucocorticoid drug, Isoproterenol sulphate, commonly prescribed for asthma. It may help reverse tissue damage in asthma patients caused by hydrocortisone and steroid drugs. Ciplea et al, Arzneimittel-Forschung November 1988.
In fact, Hawthorn inhibits the enzyme, histadine decarboxylase, that transforms histidine to histamine; giving an anti-histamine effect.
Small amounts, say 30 drops of tincture, can be tried instead of an inhaler, helping patients reduce or eliminate their use in episodes of chest tightness, or dyspnea.
Ethanol extracts of berries exhibit anti-inflammatory, gastro-protective, free radical scavenging and anti-microbial activity. Tadic et al, J Ag Food Chem 2008 56.
Moderate activity was noted against gram-positive bacteria such as
Micrococcus flavus, Bacillus subtilis, and Lysteria monocytogenes.
Lipase, crataegolic acid and saponins help increase gastric activity and digest fats. Austrian researchers found decreased free fatty acids and lactic acid in the body. Oriental herbalists use hawthorn berry for food stagnation, as well as nourishing the heart and spirit.
The leaf paste or poultice can be applied to injuries, skin cancers, rashes, ulcers and tumours, helping reduce pain and swelling.
Hawthorn berry infusions make a great gargle for sore throat, and vaginal douche when needed.
Hawthorn, like Echinacea, inhibits hyaluronidase, decreasing the ability of viruses to spread.
Hawthorn appears to strengthen endothelial surface layer resistance, explaining in part, the benefit to tissue health. Peters W et al, PLoS One 2012 7:1.
Hawthorn contains compounds that de-activate plasmin, a chemical in the body that allows cancerous tumours to spread. In one study, hawthorn aerial extracts stopped 93% growth of human larynx cancer cells. Saenz et al, J of BioSciences 1997 52:1-2.
Hawthorn leaves, as a hot water extract, lower blood sugar levels in STZ rats. Jwad et al, J Herb Pharm 2003 3:2.
Both mistletoe and non-infected aerial parts demonstrated significant cytotoxic activity that was more potent than 6-mercaptopurine solution.
Hawthorn contains rutin that kills leukemia and Burkitt’s lymphoma cells, and compounds that deactivate plasmin that allows cancer cells to spread through the body.
Work by Thirupurasundari et al, J Med Food 8:3 found Hawthorn tincture protected myocardial infarcted rats, and improved liver health as well.
The leaf contains various flavonoids with strong alpha glucosidase activity. Li et al, J Am Soc Mass Spectrom 2009 20:8. Application to blood sugar levels is unclear.
Hyperoside, found in hawthorn leaf and St. John’s wort, may be beneficial in atherosclerosis and inflammatory conditions associated with high blood sugar levels. Ku SK et al, Inflammation 2014 March 9.
In Russia, both the dried flowers and fruit are used medicinally, while in Switzerland, the dried leaves are preferred. I like them all!
Leaf extracts of related C. pinnatifida show potent inhibitory activity against HIV-1 protease at a concentration of 100 mcg/ml. Two active compounds, uvaol and ursolic acid, were found active at 5.5 and 8 microM, respectively. Min Byung Sun et al, Planta Medica 1999 65:4.
The leaves contain eriodectyol, that inhibits production of thrombus. Song SJ et al, Planta Medica 2012 78:18 1967-71.
The berries are soothing to Vata types, neutral to Pitta and aggravating to Kapha types in the Ayurvedic tradition.
The ripe berries are used for abdominal distention and pain, associated with digestive complaints. The unripe fruit relieves diarrhea, the charred fruit stops abnormal bleeding and dysentery.Work by Erl
Shyl Kao et al, J Ag Food Chem 2005 53 found the dried fruit reveals significant anti-inflammatory potential.
Kao et al, Food Chem Tox 45:10 found potential in fruit as cancer chemo-protective agent against tumor formation.
The bark contains esculin, the same constituent found in bark of horse chestnut. It has been found to inhibit chemical-induced carcinogenic action, and bacteria Bacillus subtilis. The bark can be collected, even in winter, and made into a hot decoction to reduce fevers.
The bark of C. oxyacantha has been shown to regulate procyanidin- mediated anti-oxidant/detoxifying effects in healthy hepatocytes, suggesting the Nrf2/ARE pathway may be important in liver protection and anti-carcinogenic activity. Krajka-Kuzniak et al, Phytother Res 2014 28(4):593-602.
Crataegus (Hawthorn berry) produces giddiness, lowered pulse, air hunger and reduction in blood pressure. It acts on the muscle of the heart and is a heart tonic. It has no influence on the endocardium.It is used for myocarditis, failing compensation, and irregularity of heart.
It relieves insomnia of aortic sufferers, anemia, edema, high arterial tension, and cold extremities. It acts sedative in cross, irritable patients with cardiac symptoms.
There may be painful sensation of pressure in the left side of chest below the clavicle; and is said to be a solvent of crustaceous and calcareous deposits in arteries.
The patient may be very nervous and irritable, with pain in the back of the head and neck. It is useful when there is sugar in the urine, especially in children.
It is mainly for the heart, in cardiac dropsy, fatty degeneration, and aortic disease. The heart muscles seem flabby and worn out. The pulse is accelerated, irregular, feeble and intermittent. Angina pectoris, and valvular murmurs may be present.
The circulation is poor, with blueness of the fingers and toes, all aggravated by exertion or excitement. Hawthorn sustains the heart through viral infections. The patients symptoms are made worse by a warm room, better from fresh air, quiet and rest.
DOSE- Mother tincture to 30C. Take 1-15 drops of MT. Must be used for some time in order to obtain good results. The mother tincture is prepared from the fresh, ripe fruit at 1:10 ratio. First proving by Cowperthwaite and Brown with 14 provers and tincture in 1900. Proving by Hinsdale with three provers and tincture in 1910. Proving by Assmann with nine provers with tincture, 1x, 3x in 1930. Proving by Monika Stoschitzky with six provers at 30c in 1992-93, and proving by Chetna Shukla with three females at 30c in 2003.
GEMMOTHERAPY
The young shoots of Hawthorn have a bypass type action. In cases of hypertension, it lowers blood pressure, acting as a blood pressure regulator. It also gently works to moderate low blood pressure.
DOSE- 50 drops of the 1D macerated glycerite of the young shoots of various Hawthorn species, including C. oxyacantha.
SEED OIL
The seeds from the hawthorn berry contain 9.63% oil with a pleasant scent, and a yellow to orange yellow colour. It is composed mainly (81%) of oleic acids, with minor amounts of linoleic, linolenic, palmitic and stearic acids.
It has a specific gravity of 0.9161, a saponification value of 172.8 and iodine value of 152.8.
On exposure to air, at a temperature of 50° C, the oil dries after seven hours to a hard, almost colour-less skin. At ordinary room temperature, it thickens after seven days, and dries after ten days.
Hawthorn blossoms have an unusual odour similar to that of Mountain Ash. An “essential oil” of Hawthorn is on the market, but is almost certainly the synthetic chemical anisic aldehyde.
HYDROSOL
CONSTITUENTS- linalool 45%, dimethyl sulphide 42%, terpinen-4-ol 3%, and some minor constituents.
The distilled water of the flowers stay the lask. If clothes or sponges be wet in the distilled water, and applied to any place wherein thorns and splinters, or the like, do abide in the flesh, it will notably draw them forth. CULPEPPER
Viaud suggests the hydrolat is useful for calming the heart, a muscle regenerator and as an anti-depressive. VIAUD
FLOWER ESSENCES
Holly Thorn (Crataegus sp.) flower essence opens our hearts to love and the acceptance of ourselves, and others allowing intimacy and the expression of our truth and creativity.
It is indicated whenever there is blocked self-expression and creativity, withholding of one-self, lack of involvement, creating of barriers to friendship, fear of rejection or repression of the true self.
FINDHORN
As a flower essence, Hawthorn protects the heart in times of extreme stress, pain, or grief. It stimulates the healing power of love and cleanses the heart of negativity to restore hope, trust and forgiveness. Use this extract to free the spirit and follow you own path in life.
HARVEY
Hawthorn flower essence is very physical in its effects. It eases the spread of cancer, especially tumours. But it is not very effective against leukemia or bone cancer. In cancerous tumours, it eases the thickening of the cellular structure and its spread.
Precancerous emotional states such as extreme stress or grief over the death of a loved companion can be treated with this remedy.
GURUDAS
SPIRITUAL PROPERTIES
Hawthorn has the ability to create greater attunement to the choices of life, and is one of its most important spiritual characteristics. And it has the ability to assist individuals in understanding how they manifest God in their lives. The way some of these properties are transferred naturally leads to a greater focus of energy on the heart center.
What occurs as a result of this is that an energy is formed in the heart that can be quite warming and remains long after the herb has been used or has fulfilled its function of aiding the blood or the heart.
The etheric signature of the plant appears to have a pulsation that is close to the tempo of a heartbeat. Before taking hawthorn, it is wise to tune into your heartbeat for a few minutes to activate its spiritual properties.
The ability to let go is greatly enhanced with hawthorn. Negative thought forms lodged in a person’s own aura may be dislodged or even utterly destroyed. Therefore, there is some benefit in using this herb.
This implies forgiveness, but it is not quite so; it is more forgiving yourself than anyone else.
In Lemuria, the plant was often used as a symbol; the fruit or berry was used as a decoration or gift and a way of sharing. In Atlantis, one gave hawthorn to a friend just as one might today give someone a quartz crystal. Love was imbued deeply by the Lemurians into this plant. The devic order was gradually affected by this. This was not the more conscious direction of energy, but one that developed alongside the civilization. This is why the energy of hawthorn today is relatively subtle, yet is may have a powerful effect with certain individuals very attuned to Lemuria. The karmic lesson here is to again allow this energy into the Earth, if people wish to choose it.
The heart chakra is energized. The pericardium meridian is energized, and the etheric and emotional bodies are cleansed. It is sometimes wise to give hawthorn to an animal when the animal has done something wrong. GURUDAS
Crataegus is indicated any time there is stress that has the potential to cause the patient to close down emotionally, for example, in times of betrayal or terrible loss, divorce, death of loved ones, trauma or abuse. In these cases, Crataegus can help to keep the heart open, yet protected both emotionally and physically.
Hawthorn flowers
Crataegus can be of help in alleviating the pain of grief, not blocking the feelings, but rather enhancing the flow of feeling such that the patient does not get stuck or overwhelmed by the grief process.
Patients who are out of touch with their feelings and wanting to connect more deeply with their emotions may find Crataegus a helpful ally. It can be helpful for patients who find it hard to be receptive, or trust. DEBORAH FRANCES ND
As the twilight descends I come upon the Thorn Apple covered with pomes and I notice a flickering of light beneath the tree. I look to see what could be reflecting light but find nothing. As I get closer the light disappears but around the base of the tree is a circle beaten down as if someone were dancing under the tree…
The spirit of Hawthorn can bring balance to the heart organ, the official of the fire element within the Five Element modality, and can also clear the heart chakra.
But the most important use of Hawthorn in Plant Spirit Healing is the ability to put the heart back in its rightful place as the pilot, allowing the mind to serve as the copilot. MONTGOMERY
PERSONALITY TRAITS
Hawthorn, also called the May tree, represented the White Goddess Maia, who was the mother of both Hermes and Buddha, as distinct versions of the Enlightened One.
She was the Goddess of love and death; representing the young virgin giving birth to a god, or the Grandmother helping him age gracefully.
She was therefore, the tree associated with both female sexuality and destructive spells.
In England, the blossoms were gathered and place around the Maypole on the first day of May, the wreath the female symbol surrounding the phallic pole.
According to Celtic tradition, the tree was sacred to Olwen; and represented fertility in the Druid alphabet, or the letter H, uath. WALKER
The Maypole...is a happy, innocent amusement, a symbol of the joy of spring; but few recognize that the Maypole and its dance is one of the oldest and most sexual of public ceremonies involving the Tree of Life.
It was to Earth Mother that people prayed for good crops, human and animal fertility. If Earth Mother was with child, so would be the fields. But gods were forgetful and had to be reminded annually of their responsibilities to the faithful.
Decked with flowers, the tree was ritually worshipped with dances that included sexual orgies…and thus not accepted in Judeo-Christianity.
The spring ritual began in Rome on March 22. The music of cymbals, drums and flutes became wilder as the day progressed. Frenzied by the dance, participants lacerated themselves and dripped their blood upon Diana’s epiphany. The dance culminated in self-emasculation of young men wishing to become Diana’s priests. The excised organs were thrown at the tree to hasten the resurrection of the earth and its impending fertilization.
With minor variations, the festival was similar throughout Europe. A May Queen was selected, and she and the King of the Woods- called Green George, Father May, Bark King, Grass Lord, or Leaf Man- presided over the dancing. As night fell, the queen and king mated in the fields, and this act was affirmed by the faithful.
The Morris dances of England were May dances, and May Queen Mary only later became Robin Hood’s Maid Marion.
One is struck by the universality of concepts which flow around the Tree of Life. Life, death, and the perils of everyday existence must somehow be understood...Carl Jung seized upon this as one of the arguments to support his theory of the collective unconscious, an attempt to integrate the universal symbols humans use to relate themselves to their environment. R KLEIN
The Hawthorn personality is melancholic, pessimistic, irritable and frequently ill tempered. They feel worse in a warm room and improve in fresh air. BIANCHI
Red Haws are associated with the “Monster Woman of the Woods”. She lives in a hawthorn grove, and it was she who created the red haws.
If anyone even so much as tastes of their fruit, they come under her spell and are drawn into the grove…
If a person dreams of her, he turns crazy. A dying man will hear her cry from the top of a mountain, “He! he! he!”.
If a person passes a hawthorn or enters a hawthorn grove, he must immediately cry out: “Thou are Asin, thou shalt always live in the woods, thou art nothing.” Then he may go on his way unharmed. GUILLET
The heart of the hawthorn person may be broken from grief, sorrow, or long-sufferings. Despair and fragility are keynotes. The individual may develop strategies for keeping people at arm’s length, just as the plant itself maintains boundaries with its sharp thorns.
The person with chronic heart afflictions tends to close down from a painful world and desires to keep completely quiet, yet even this shows a resistance between the self and a threatening world. This
resistance sets up a tension between the flow of blood and the walls of the vessels that contain it. When the walls of the blood vessels are too constricting, the result is hypertension. Hawthorn strengthens the heart muscles, clears the arteries, and makes the blood vessels more elastic in order to withstand heart irregularity. CLARE GOODRICK-CLARKE
Hawthorn’s keyword is courage, especially good for those undertaking a difficult or daunting task. Hawthorn is the keeper of vital energy. MULDERS
Mangialavori…observed Crataegus patient to have a ‘double face’ in terms of having an undeveloped, immature side combined with difficulties to ‘develop a mature and adult side’.
This immature side enables them to play with kids and to have a strong relationship with children. In addition there is an attitude of service, a duty to help others. It is interesting to note that Janus originally was pictured with one clean-shaven and one bearded face, representing the middle ground between youth and adulthood. He was frequently used to symbolize the progression of past to future, of one condition to another, of the growing up of young people. Hence, he was worshipped at marriages, births and other beginnings. VERMEULEN
MYTHS AND LEGENDS
A cunning stepmother wanted to get rid of her husband’s son.
She prepared lunch with half cooked rice, hoping he would die of indigestion. After a few weeks, the child began complaining of indigestion and losing weight.
One day, the child found a tree with plenty of berries, which he picked and found delicious. He began to feel better and ate them every day, gradually putting on weight.
The stepmother thought what is happening, maybe God is protecting the child? She stopped making lunches with half cooked rice and when the husband returned he found out about the berries from his son and decided to market them to herbalists in town. HENRY C. LU
Roman goddess Cardea is often considered identical with Carna. Cardea refers to Latin CARDO a hinge, with a suggestion of Greek KARDIA heart, the protector of well-being. She presides over door hinges and also over house, family and physical well-being. She was originally an elusive nymph dedicated to virginity.
She would trick any amorous pursuer by sending him ahead of her into a shady cave, under the promise to enjoy the delights of love with him there, meanwhile taking to her heels and hiding in the forest. The trick always worked, except at one time with Janus, the god with one face looking forward and one backwards. She couldn’t fool him, so that he had his way with her and in return as a reward for her favours, appointed her the protector of door hinges, giving her a branch of flowering hawthorn to keep out all evil spirits.
Consequently Cardea or Carna is closely allied to Janus’s task of presiding over all beginnings, which the Romans believed crucial to the success of any undertaking. This is the reason that the name of the first month of the year is January.
Cardea’s alternative name Carna comes from Latin carnis, flesh. Combining her influence over beginnings and flesh, she especially protected newly incarnated souls, infants in their cradle, life’s beginnings embodied, from striges sucking their blood at night. Striges are described as nocturnal vampire-like birds of ill omen. To assist her, hawthorn leaves were laid in the cradle. VERMEULEN
ASTROLOGY
The sun warms, relaxes, releases, and stimulates growth. It powerfully affirms all life, and, as the most generous being in our solar system, it unceasingly spends itself for the benefit of living things. In alchemical imagery, the heart is the sun of the body. The heart must be warm in order to relax and to release tension. It can stimulate spiritual growth by opening to love and compassion—for the suffering self as well as for others. When we describe someone as open or warmhearted, we contrast this with the closed, coldhearted person. These warmhearted people are approachable, life-affirming, loving, and giving. They too may have suffered grief and sorrow, but their “sun” remains open and giving.
Just as the hawthorn has a thorny side, Mars, associated with aggressive behavior and suppressed anger, can be an important factor in heart arrhythmias. Nevertheless, in the Greek myth, Mars is disarmed by love. CLARE GOODRICK-CLARKE
OTHER INTEREST
Several species of birds called shrikes use hawthorns as killing spikes. The loggerhead shrike snatches large insects on the wing.
If the bird finds its new acquired dainty to be a hard chew, for example, a plump beetle with a chitinous exoskeleton, the enterprising shrike finds a hawthorn bush, and impales the wriggling victim on a long, sharp thorn. Then? Yum yum!
Shrikes also impale mice and smaller birds on hawthorns. In spite of their facial mask markings, which give them a gruesome mien, shrikes are highly beneficial birds, helping rid large parts of their range of vermin and insect pests. CASSELMAN
When De Lorean set up his car factory in Ireland, there was a lone hawthorn standing in the centre of the site the builders had refused to destroy. Apparently De Lorean finally bulldozed it to the ground himself, and there was little surprise among his workers when the car plant turned out to be a total disaster. GIFFORD
BOTANICA POETICA
The Hawthorn is a lovely tree
And of its uses all agree
From China to the Eiffel Tower
Its berry, leaf and its flower
All agree it’s with the heart
That Hawthorn really plays its part
A cardiac tonic quite renown
Helps to bring blood pressure down
For congestive failure, palpitation
It can improve the circulation
Decrease cholesterol as well
And angina it might quell
It can depress or stimulate
It normalizes any state
Helps the heart to perform
Where it’s ailing, here’s reform
Collect the berries in the Fall
When the Frost has covered all
A tincture of the leaf and flower
Also has the healing power
When you consider Hawthorn’s gift
Think of the heart that needs a shift!
SYLVIA CHATROUX
RECIPES
FRESH PLANT TINCTURE- 15-30 drops. A fresh plant tincture of the flowering tops, twigs, leaves and spines is made of a 1:2 ratio of 60% alcohol in early summer. The fresh berry tincture is made with ripe berries in fall using the same ratio. Combine. The leaf procyanidins are richest in August. Flower polysaccharides are maximal at 15% ethanol. The lower the alcohol content, the more precipitation later.
The flavonoid content of the leaves and flowers is 1%; while only 0.1% for the berries. Standardized leaf and flower products contain 2.2% flavonoids, or 18.75% oligomeric procyanidins. Hawthorn berry was originally used, but higher concentrations of the flavonoids have been found in the flowers and leaves when in full bloom. White blooming hawthorns are medicinal, while the red blossomed trees have not been studied well enough to recommend. One study, by Costa et al in 1986, found young spring shoots the most active. Hawthorn tincture is very safe, and one would have to consume over one gallon at a time to experience acute side effects.
GOLD DROPS- Combine 3 parts Hawthorn, 2 parts Valerian root, and 1 part Squill. Take for heart attack symptoms such as acute chest pain, shortness of breath, sweating and irregular pulse; 20 drops every two hours until symptoms stabilize. Later take 20 drops after meals three times daily as lifestyle is improved.
DRY PLANT TINCTURE- 10-20 drops. A dry herb tincture is made with 1:5 of a 50% alcohol using the previously dried leaf and flowers and/or dried berries.
INFUSION- Use a teaspoon of dried flowers and leaves, and/or berries to one cup of hot water. Steep for half hour.
Take three cups daily for a few weeks, and then decrease to twice daily morning and evening.
Standardized extracts in a range of 300-600 mg daily are considered a therapeutic and clinical dosage of hawthorn. It is extremely useful where digitalis is not tolerated, or where chronic poisoning has resulted from long-term usage. It may potentiate the effects of digoxin type glycosides but appears to be safely taken together. Tankanow R et al, J Clin Pharmacol 2003 43 637-42.
It has been used clinically as an intermittent with digitalis (Van Hellemont 1985). Hawthorn preparations may increase side effects of beta-blockers. Maybe.
CAUTION- the seeds, just before germination, release large amounts of cyanogenic glycosides (HCN), or plant cyanide. This poison helps protect the seeds from attack by insects, and stimulates growth and energizes chlorophyll production. Eaten in large quantities, a toxic reaction can occur germinating berries. Always use fresh from the tree, or sun-dried fruit. Boiling will also dispel the cyanide.
Researchers have calculated the toxic dose of Crataegus to be 500- 1000 times the therapeutic dose in humans. Hawthorn potentiates the action of barbituates.