Species
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Crataegus phaenopyrum (L.fil.) Borkh.

Washington hawthorn, Washington hawthorn (EN)

Climate known 9 photographs
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Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Crataegus phaenopyrum is a species of hawthorn commonly known as Washington hawthorn or Washington thorn. It is widely grown as an ornamental plant, and can reach 10 m in height. The small red berry-like fruit grow closely together in large clusters and are food for squirrels and birds. They have a mild flavor and can be eaten raw or cooked. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Crataegus phaenopyrum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Crataegus

Crataegus, commonly called hawthorn, quickthorn, thornapple, May-tree, whitethorn, Mayflower or hawberry, is a genus of several hundred species of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Asia, North Africa and North America. The name "hawthorn" was originally applied to the species native to northern Europe, especially the common hawthorn C. monogyna, and the unmodified name is often so used in Britain and Ireland. The name is now also applied to the entire genus and to the related Asian genus Rhaphiolepis.

Text from Wikipedia, “Crataegus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Rosaceae
Described by
(L.fil.) Borkh.
Native to
Ontario, Montana, Washington +19
Wild records
488 in range· 261 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Jul, mean day; nights 19 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1097mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jul 109 mm (CHELSA)
Light
11–40DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (March to September and November in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 1097 mm a year, wettest July at 109 mm, driest February at 70 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 11 to 40 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -15.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Cotoneaster cordatus (Mill.) Focke; Crataegus acerifolia J.Godr. et al.; Crataegus acerifolia J.Gordon, Dermer & R.Edmonds; Crataegus borealis Ashe; Crataegus corallina Pers. and 27 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (March to September and November in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (781 mm of 1097 mm) takes 8 months, March to September and November. Mean temperature moves 24.8 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: September to March and May.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1097 mm a year, wettest July at 109 mm, driest February at 70 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1097 mm a year at the habitat, 781 mm of it March to September and November. Wettest month July at 109 mm, driest February at 70 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 924 mm to 1343 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 11 to 40 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 11 to 40 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 8, the highest 90th-percentile month 42).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -15.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -15.8 °C, the absolute minimum -28.9 °C, about 123 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.6 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -5.4 °C in January (across the envelope cells -8.3 °C to 1.5 °C), warmest day 28.0 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -15.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 60% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 3 °C in Jan to 28 °C in Jul; mean night from -5 °C in Jan to 19 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1097 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 349 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -28.9 °C and the 99th-percentile day 34.6 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-40°-20°20°40°frost34.6° 99th-percentile day (undated)-28.9° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 11–40RH 56–60 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 349 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C3 / -1–95 / 1–1110 / 6–1616 / 13–2121 / 19–2526 / 23–2928 / 26–3127 / 25–3124 / 21–2717 / 15–2111 / 8–155 / 2–10
Night °C-5 / -8–2-4 / -8–30 / -3–66 / 3–1011 / 9–1517 / 14–2019 / 17–2219 / 16–2115 / 12–189 / 7–123 / 1–7-2 / -5–3
Rain mm76 / 54–11470 / 52–11590 / 59–12293 / 77–113107 / 83–135106 / 85–126109 / 85–13495 / 80–12094 / 77–11886 / 71–10687 / 73–11284 / 62–121
DLI13 / 11–1719 / 17–2126 / 25–2833 / 32–3637 / 36–3940 / 39–4239 / 38–4134 / 33–3728 / 26–3020 / 18–2414 / 11–1811 / 8–15
RH %60 / 56–6358 / 55–6157 / 55–5956 / 55–5757 / 56–5958 / 57–6058 / 57–6159 / 58–6159 / 57–6158 / 57–6059 / 57–6160 / 57–63

Each figure is the median across the 349 grid cells holding the 435 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1003:1944 (39.825, -82.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -28.9 °C, 1st-percentile night -15.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 34.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 349 distinct grid cells holding the 435 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1003:1944 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 40.00_-82.500, lapse-corrected -36 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 254 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeOntario, Montana, Washington, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia· introduced: New York
Kew's description“tree” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker41.13, -81.431 · in the densest population, 348 records (71% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 488 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 261 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 27 km away. 252 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 53 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 488 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Crataegus phaenopyrumCrataegus phaenopyrumCrataegus phaenopyrumCrataegus phaenopyrumCrataegus phaenopyrumCrataegus phaenopyrumCrataegus phaenopyrumCrataegus phaenopyrum

Photographs: Schretzmann-Myers Theresa, CC BY-SA, via GBIF; sophiedenicolais, CC BY-SA, via GBIF; Ryan Sorrells, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF; Rebecca Turner, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (3); Heidi Hellstern, CC BY-SA, iNaturalist via GBIF (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Crataegus phaenopyrum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Nutritional budgets in free flying birds: Cedar waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) feeding on washington hawthorn fruit (Crataegus phaenopyrum)
Eugene H. Studier, Ernest J. Szuch, Terence M. Tompkins, Virgil W. Cope (1988) · Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A Physiology
Biostimulants and Soil Amendments Affect Two-year Posttransplant Growth of Red Maple and Washington Hawthorn
Matt Kelting, J. Roger Harris, Jody Fanelli, Bonnie Lee Appleton (1998) · HortScience
Antidesiccant Compounds Improve the Survival of Bare-root Deciduous Nursery Trees
John Englert, Keith Warren, Leslie H. Fuchigami, Tony H.H. Chen (1993) · Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science
Plant species identified as food sources for adult black cutworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in northwestern Missouri.
J. W. Wynne, Armon J. Keaster, Klaus O. Gerhardt, G. F. Krause (1991) · Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society
Influence of Irrigation Regime on Growth of Select Field-grown Tree Species in a Semi-arid Climate
Lindsey Fox, Thayne Montague (2009) · Journal of Environmental Horticulture
Biostimulants and Soil Amendments Affect Two-year Posttransplant Growth of Red Maple and Washington Hawthorn
Matt Kelting, J. Roger Harris, Jody Fanelli, Bonnie Lee Appleton (1999) · HortTechnology
Effects of Soil Amendments and Biostimulants on the Post-transplant Growth of Landscape Trees
Matthew P. Kelting, James R. Harris, Bonnie Lee Appleton, Alex X. Niemiera (1997) · VTechWorks (Virginia Tech)
Cold Storage Method Affects Root and Shoot Water Potential of Bare-root Hawthorn and Maple Trees
Rick M. Bates, Alexander Xavier Niemiera, John R. Seiler (1994) · Journal of Environmental Horticulture
Effects of Storage Temperatures and Duration on the Performance of Bareroot Deciduous Hardwood Trees
John Englert, Leslie H. Fuchigami, Tony Chen (1993) · Arboriculture & Urban Forestry
Survival and growth of 20 species of trees and shrubs on Appalachian surface mines
Alexis Monteleone, Jeff Skousen, Jamie Shuler, Louis M. McDonald (2018) · Land Degradation and Development

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Crataegus 5 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: not asked: 7 wild photographs already from the GBIF download
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: filled 2026-09-20
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 87 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.