A different sort of may-blossom

I spent much of May Day surveying an ancient woodland. Mind you, when I arrived just after eight there was dense fog and it was not much above freezing! Fortunately the sun soon burnt off the mist, and it turned into the most perfect warm spring day.

This is the first May Day that I can remember when not a single flower of Common Hawthorn could be seen in the hedgerows. But I did find one bush of Midland Hawthorn Crataegus laevigata, growing in a sheltered spot, which had a few open flowers.

This species is also known as Woodland Hawthorn because it is most commonly found in ancient woods and old hedges on clay soils in southern and central England. It differs from Common Hawthorn in having slightly glossy, almost hairless leaves with shallow lobes and two styles (the greenish female parts) in the centre of the flower. Identification is not always straightforward, because like many plants, the two species hybridise and backcross.

Because the Midland Hawthorn is similar to Common Hawthorn, some writers believe that the negative superstitions surrounding Hawthorn arose from confusion with this species as the flowers smell nauseating and of rotten flesh. This is in comparison to common hawthorn whose flowers smell sweet.

This tree has a bewildering variety of colloquial names, some of which refer to the time of flowering (Holy Innocents' May, May-tree, White-may), some which refer to the fruit (Hagthorn, Awes, Asogs, Boojuns) and some whose origin seems to be a bit of a mystery (Porn!)

I enjoyed my first day of fieldwork in the woods, but my cold is still troublesome, and left me aching and exhausted at the end of it. And I have to do the same thing again tomorrow!!