Hawthorn

Origin: Europe and Mediterranean

Family: Rosaceae
Subfamily: Amygdaloideae
Tribe: Maleae
Subtribe: Malinae
Scientific Name: Crataegus monogyna

Folk Names: Bread-and-cheese tree, hagthorn, halves, hawberry, ladies' meat, May, Mayblossom, Maybush, Mayflower, Maythorn, motherdie, quickthorn, thornapple, tree of chastity, whitethorn

Magical

Element: Fire
Day: Friday
Planet: Venus
Zodiac: Virgo
Associated Celebrations: Floralia
Deities: Cardea, Flora, Hymen, and the Fae

Parts used: Leaves, flowers, berries

Magical Properties: Love (especially self-love), purification, protection, happiness, fertility, luck, the Otherworld, chastity, hope, faeries, mending a broken heart

Substitutions: Apricot

Lore

• Nicholas Culpeper describes hawthorn as a tree of Mars. He states that cloths soaked in distilled hawthorn water draws out thorns and splinters - like those of the bush itself!
• Hawthorn is sacred to the fae, and where hawthorn, oak, and ash all grow together it is said that one may see fairies.

Magical Uses

• Place hawthorn in the house to protect against lightning and storms.