March&April from British Wild Plants Calendar 2017

Blackthorn

Prunus spinosa

Order: Rosales

Family: Rosaceae

Genus: Prunus

habitat: headgerows, open woods, sunny meadow edges

 widespread and common throughout the UK isles

Blackthorn starts blooming in early spring before its leaves come out.  There are other early spring wild flowers like snowdrops, daffodils and so on, but when blackthorn is in full bloom, I feel spring really arrives.

The flowers are tiny (around 2 cm) with white five petals are thickly together on branches.  They tend to grow in colonies, which look white walls or waterfalls(because leaves are not coming yet and flowers cover their trees) alongside meadows or sunny fields.

I'm excited when seeing blackthorn bushes full in bloom and looking forward to the spring coming soon after the wet cold winter.

Sloe (blackthorn's fruits; from calendar 2014)

The fruits are called sloe, well-known as the ingredient for sloe gin, are tiny dark blue (almost black) ball-shaped.  The fruits get ripe towards the end of September until the first frost some time around November (here in the south east Wales we hardly have frost in November, even throughout the winter).  

Bees have started working busy outside.  They must have been waiting for the blackthorn's aromatic flower nectar.  It won't be long!