Hawthorn

Hawthorn (Crataegus) is a shrub or small tree widespread in Europe and Asia, belonging to the rose family. The plant can live for several hundred years and is easily recognised by its white flowers, bright red berries and characteristic thorns. Both the leaves and flowers, as well as the fruits, are used; they contain, among other things, flavonoids such as hyperoside and vitexin, as well as oligomeric procyanidins (OPC). In European herbal tradition, hawthorn is one of the longest-used plants — Dioscorides already described it in the 1st century AD.