 |
|
Prunus spinosa is a member of the rose family and it is unusual in that its blossoms appear before its leaves, sometimes when the weather is still pretty chilly, so that the blossoming time is sometimes called a 'blackthorn winter'. The fruit, when it appears, is almost as beautiful as the blossom - a small plum of gleaming blue-black, known as a sloe. Its culinary use is rather limited as it is very sour, though most people have heard of sloe gin, and Mrs Beeton has a recipe for sloe and apple jelly.
Birds benefit from the almost impenetrable barrier of the blackthorn's spikes, building nests deep inside these protective twigs and somehow avoiding the sharp thorns which seem to be everywhere. For humans, an Everyman's Encyclopaedia of 1956 informs us, there is another benefit: the hardness of the wood of the blackthorn and the fact that its black bark takes a fine polish, makes it a favourite walking-stick! This has long been appreciated in Ireland, where it was put to rather more pugnaceous use in making 'shillelaghs', or cudgels. more >>> |
 |
