The haws on the right are the normal size haws found in the hedgerow. The left hand ones are from a tree in the garden, which means we must have planted it, but for the life of us we cannot remember which one it was, except it is not Paul's Scarlet. Any ideas anyone? The tree has very few thorns too!
Could be a Midland Thorn; C.laevigiata, the parent of Pauls Scarlet and other garden forms, an infrequent local wild plant to your area. Check if the fruit contains two or three seeds: if it does it most likely is laevigiata, if only one then IMO it is probably a hybrid of the two, though it could be one of a variety of other Haws. Possibly the rare C.monogyna 'Inermis Compacta' though I believe that has NO thorns and a distinctive shape (but I have never seen it!).
Will do, but there are 3 or 4 species which have larger haws, arnoldiana and jonesii are mentioned, but only the first is generally available. However, we do not remember buying either of these. Not that, that is anything to go by, we have bought a lot of things for this garden over the years. Edited to add. there is just the one seed, small too, so lots of flesh!
After googling for a bit, re monogyna cultivars, I got this reference, on the RSPB site, of al places...."Garden cultivars to look out for include Crataegus monogyna Variegata and C. monogyna Flexuosa which has twisted stems." So I got these pictures from google images, and the haws look quite big, although the pictures are far from clear. Don't think your one has twisted stems, does it, Palustris? http://images.google.co.uk/images?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial_s&hl=en&q=Crataegus+monogyna+Variegata&btnG=Search+Images
No, straight up and down. I looked again and there are hardly any thorns that I can see and the leaves are bigger than C. monogyna.
I will try to remember to take samples and pictures to a botanist friend at Ness Botanic Gardens next month and see if he can shed light. Not hopeful, he is more an alpine specialist, but you never know.
Usual probs of Rosaceae hybridising by the look of it. If the obvious solutions aren't correct what about C. x lavallei cultivars: 'Carrierei' or 'Grignonensis'. From my reading there seems to be confusion about a lot of parentage, and reversion seems common in seedlings as well possibly leading to confusion over naming away from stock plants.
In one or two of the haws there were two seeds, having split open a dozen or more. In the rest there was one correspondingly large, compared to C. monogynus seeds. As I said, from its position in the garden I would say that it is one we have bought rather than a self seeded one. In that case we would have bought it in flower to go with Paul's Scarlet. We will have to wait for spring. I have sown a dozen seeds to see if they grow. Thanks all the same for trying.
Can't throw any more light on this, sorry. I would think that there is a Midland Thorn parent there because of the leaf shape. Its haws generally have 2 - 3 pips. They hybridise so freely that you may never get closer to true parentage. Post some pics when it flowers. that may help.
