Prunus spinosa - Blackthorn - Sloe

General Information Common Name  Blackthorn, Sloe Scientific Name  Prunus spinosa Sun Tolerance  Full Sun Height  4.5-6 m (15 - 20 ft) Spread  4.5 -6 m (15 - 20 ft) Growth Rate  Fast Bloom Time  Early Summer Color  Green Flower Color  White Type  Tree Native  Europe, Western Asia, Northwest Africa

Classification Kingdom  Plantae – Plants Subkingdom  Tracheobionta – Vascular plants Superdivision Spermatophyta – Seed plants Division  Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants Class  Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons Subclass  Rosidae Order  Rosales Family  Rosaceae – Rose family Genus  Prunus L. – plum Species  P. spinosa

Prunus spinosa - Blackthorn - Sloe

Prunus spinosa general name is Blackthorn but commonly called Sloe. It is a dwarfish tree which grows abundantly in hedgerows where, because of its many suckers and vicious black thorns, it is unpopular with farmers or on waste ground often forming impenetrable dense thickets.

Its black, thorn-studded twigs carry small alternate winter buds that are oval, bluntly pointed and reddish to purplish-black in color. The small (about an inch long) oval leaves are tender green on opening, have pointed tips, shallowly toothed margins, and dull red stalks. The leaves later become longer and narrower and a much darker duller green.

The leaves are usually preceded (though sometimes followed) in April by clouds of small, star-shaped, white, bi-sexual blossoms. The small round fruit (sloe) ripens through green flesh is intensely bitter to the taste and the stone is brown. The fruits are the source of sloe jelly. They are often fermented to produce sloe wine and if pickled in spirit they provide sloe gin.

The bark is black and on old trees it becomes broken into small square plates. The sapwood is pale yellow and the heartwood dark brown and tough. Though the tree is too small for use as timber, knobbly walking sticks are made from it and the wood was used to make the traditional Irish shillelagh. 

Leaves of Prunus spinosa

Leaves of Blackthorn - Sloe

Flowers of Prunus spinosa

Flowers of  Blackthorn - Sloe

Prunus spinosa - Blackthorn - Sloe Leves

Thorn of Prunus spinosa

Thorn of Blackthorn - Sloe

Prunus spinosa  - Green Fruits

Fruits of Blackthorn - Sloe

Prunus spinosa - Fruits

Prunus spinosa - Seeds

Prunus spinosa -  Full blooms

Prunus spinosa - Blackthorn - Sloe

Prunus spinosa - Blackthorn - Sloe