Prunus spinosa

Prunus spinosa is a large deciduous shrub or small tree growing to tall, with blackish bark and dense, stiff, spiny branches. The leaves are oval, long and broad, with a serrated margin. The flowers are about in diameter, with five creamy-white petals; they are produced shortly before the leaves in early spring, and are hermaphroditic and insect-pollinated. The fruit, called a "sloe", is a drupe in diameter, black with a purple-blue waxy bloom, ripening in autumn. In the United Kingdom, they are traditionally harvested in October or November, after the first frosts, as this makes the skin softer and easier to process for the purposes of making sloe gin. Sloes are thin-fleshed, with a very strongly astringent flavour when fresh. Prunus spinosa is frequently confused with the related P. cerasifera (cherry plum), particularly in early spring when the latter starts flowering somewhat earlier than P. spinosa. They can be distinguished by flower colour, pure white in P. spinosa, creamy white in P. cerasifera. In addition, the sepals are bent backwards in P. cerasifera, but not in P. spinosa. They can be distinguished in winter by the shrubbier habit with stiffer, wider-angled branches of P. spinosa; in summer by the relatively narrower leaves of P. spinosa, more than twice as long as broad; Prunus spinosa has a tetraploid (2n=4x=32) set of chromosomes. Like many other fruits with pits, the pit of the sloe contains trace amounts of hydrogen cyanide. ==Etymology==

The specific name is a Latin term indicating the pointed and thornlike spur shoots characteristic of this species. The common name is due to the thorny nature of the shrub, and possibly its very dark bark: it has a much darker bark than the white-thorn (hawthorn), to which it is contrasted. and the Danish . The names related to sloe come from the common Germanic root , itself comparable to the Old Slavic, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Ukrainian and Russian (, Ukrainian ), and the West Slavic/Polish , referring to a plum of any species, including sloe. The root is present in other Slavic languages, such as Bosnian, Bulgarian , Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian (/). ==Distribution and habitat==

P. spinosa is native to Europe, western Asia, and locally in northwest Africa. It is also locally naturalized in Tasmania and eastern North America. ==Ecology==

'' The foliage is sometimes eaten by the larvae of Lepidoptera, including the small eggar moth, emperor moth, willow beauty, white-pinion spotted, common emerald, November moth, pale November moth, mottled pug, green pug, brimstone moth, feathered thorn, brown-tail, yellow-tail, short-cloaked moth, lesser yellow underwing, lesser broad-bordered yellow underwing, double square-spot, black hairstreak, brown hairstreak, hawthorn moth (Scythropia crataegella) and the case-bearer moth Coleophora anatipennella. Dead blackthorn wood provides food for the caterpillars of the concealer moth Esperia oliviella. == Uses ==

The shrub, with its long, sharp thorns, is traditionally used in Britain and other parts of northern Europe to make a cattle-proof hedge. The fruit is similar to a small damson or plum, suitable for preserves, but rather tart and astringent for eating fresh unless it is picked after the first few days of autumn frost. This effect can be reproduced by freezing harvested sloes. Similarly, in Northern Greece, they make a blackthorn liqueur by infusing tsipouro with the fruit and adding sugar. In Navarre, Spain, a popular liqueur called is made with sloes. In France a liqueur called , or just or , is made from the young shoots in spring (rather than from fruits in autumn). (, likewise, is an infusion of early shoots of blackthorn macerated with sugar in wine.) Wood Blackthorn makes an excellent fire wood that burns slowly with a good heat and little smoke. The wood takes a fine polish and is used for tool handles and canes. Straight blackthorn stems have traditionally been made into walking sticks or clubs (known in Ireland as a shillelagh). In the British Army, blackthorn sticks are carried by commissioned officers of the Royal Irish Regiment; this is a tradition also in Irish regiments in some Commonwealth countries. Inks Rashi, a Talmudist and Tanakh commentator of the High Middle Ages, writes that the sap (or gum) of P. spinosa (which he refers to as the ) was used as an ingredient in the making of some inks used for manuscripts. A "sloe-thorn worm" used as fishing bait is mentioned in the 15th-century work, The Treatyse of Fishing with an Angle. == In culture ==

In Middle English, was used to denote something of trifling value. and is first attested in William Somervile's 1735 poem The Chace. , meanwhile, is first attested in A. J. Wilson's 1867 novel Vashti. The flowering of the blackthorn may have been associated with the ancient Celtic celebration of Imbolc, traditionally celebrated on February 1 in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. The name of the dark-coloured cloth prunella was derived from the French word , meaning 'sloe'. == Notes ==