Israel native plants: Spiny Hawthorn

Crataegus aronia, Crataegus azarolus, Spiny Hawthorn,
Neapolitan medlar, עוזרר קוצני, رورعز


Scientific name:		Crataegus aronia (L.) DC.
Synonym name:		Crataegus azarolus L.
Common name:		Spiny Hawthorn, Neapolitan medlar
Hebrew name:		עוזרר קוצני
Arabic name:		رورعز, Za’rur
Plant Family:		Rosaceae, ורדיים


Life form:		Phanerophyte, tree
Spinescence:		Stems
Stems:		Up to 6 m tall, trunk is scabrous, branches rather upright-growing, dense and thorny
Leaves:		Alternate, dissected once
Flowers:		White
Fruits / pods:		Pome; a yellow pome, a fleshy fruit with a thin skin, not formed from the ovary but from another part of the plant (Accessory Fruits); seeds are contained in chambers in the centre of the fruit
Flowering Period:		October, November
Habitat:		Mediterranean maquis and forest
Distribution:		Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon
Chorotype:		Med – Irano-Turanian
Summer shedding:		Perennating

Derivation of the botanical name:

Crataegus, Greek kratus, kratys “strong, mighty,” kartos “strength” and akakia,akis “tip, thorn, a sharp point” or aigos “a goat,” Latin crataegum for the kernel of the fruit of the box-tree (Plinius).

aronia, Greek, for medlar-tree.
azarolus, from Arabic Za’rur, the name of the fruit.
Hawthorn from haw, originally an Old English term for hedge (from the Anglo-Saxon term haguthorn, “a fence with thorns”), also applies to the fruit.
The Hebrew name: עוזרר, ozrar is mentioned several times in the Mishnah (Tithes, Demai, Kilayim, Okatzim), by the names ozrar or ozrad. Since in Arabic the name za’arur, za’rur (tiny, i.e. tiny apple) has been preserved, it is called ozrar in Modern Hebrew.

The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.
The standard author abbreviation DC. is used to indicate Augustin Pyramus de Candolle (1778 – 1841), a Swiss botanist.