Biology:Prunus spinosa

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Short description: Species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae
"Blackthorn" redirects here. For other uses, see Blackthorn (disambiguation).
"Prunelle" redirects here. For the liqueur, see Sloe gin.

Prunus spinosa
Fruit
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Prunus
Subgenus: Prunus subg. Prunus
Section: Prunus sect. Prunus
Species:
P. spinosa
Binomial name
Prunus spinosa
Distribution map
Synonyms[2]

Prunus spinosa, called blackthorn or sloe, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It is native to Europe and West Asia, and has been naturalized in parts of North America.

The fruits are used to make sloe gin in Great Britain and patxaran in Basque Country. The wood is used to make walking sticks, including the Irish shillelagh.

Description

Prunus spinosa is a large deciduous shrub or small tree growing to 5 metres (16 ft) tall, with blackish bark and dense, stiff, spiny branches. The leaves are oval, 2–4.5 centimetres (3⁄4–1 3⁄4 inches) long and 1.2–2 cm (1⁄2–3⁄4 in) broad, with a serrated margin. The flowers are about 1.5 cm (1⁄2 in) in diameter, with five creamy-white petals; they are produced shortly before the leaves in early spring,[3] and are hermaphroditic and insect-pollinated. The fruit, called a "sloe", is a drupe 10–12 millimetres (3⁄8–1⁄2 in) 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.[4] Sloes are thin-fleshed, with a very strongly astringent flavour when fresh.[5] Its fruit persists for an average of 36.7 days, and bears an average of 1 seed per fruit. Fruits average 77.6% water, and their dry weight includes 10.6% carbohydrates and 0.6% lipids.[6]

Blackthorn usually grows as a bush but can grow to become a tree to a height of 6 m (20 ft). Its branches usually grow forming a tangle.[7][8]

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.[9] 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;[5][10] and in autumn by the colour of the fruit skin purplish black in P. spinosa and yellow or red in P. cerasifera.[11]: 207 

Prunus spinosa has a tetraploid (2n=4x=32) set of chromosomes.[12]

Like many other fruits with pits, the pit of the sloe contains trace amounts of hydrogen cyanide.[13]

  • 1885 illustration
    1885 illustration
  • In early spring
    In early spring
  • Shrub in the Vogelsberg
    Shrub in the Vogelsberg
  • Close-up of flowers
    Close-up of flowers
  • (Presumably grafted) husband and wife tree
    (Presumably grafted) husband and wife tree

Etymology

The specific name spinosa is a Latin term indicating the pointed and thornlike spur shoots characteristic of this species. The common name blackthorn 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.[14]

The word commonly used for the fruit, sloe, comes from Old English slāh, cognate with Old High German slēha, slēwa, and Modern German schlehe.[15] Other cognate forms are the Frisian and Middle Low German[lower-alpha 1] slē, the Middle Dutch slee, slie, sleeu; the Modern Dutch slee; the Modern Low German slee/slē, slī;[15][16] and the Danish slåen.[15]

The names related to sloe come from the common Germanic root slaihwō, itself comparable to the Old Slavic, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Ukrainian and Russian слива (sliva, Ukrainian slyva),[16][15] and the West Slavic/Polish śliwa, referring to a plum of any species, including sloe. The root śliwa tarnina is present in other Slavic languages, such as Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian (šljiva/шљива).

Distribution and habitat

P. spinosa is native to Europe, western Asia, and locally in northwest Africa.[5][17] It is also locally naturalized in Tasmania and eastern North America.[17]

Ecology

Pocket plum gall on blackthorn, caused by the fungus Taphrina pruni

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.[citation needed]

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.[18]

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.[19]

Since the plant is hardy, and grows in a wide range of conditions, it is used as a rootstock for many other species of plum, as well as some other fruit species.[citation needed]

Flavoring

The juice is used in the manufacture of fake port wine, and it was used as an adulterant to impart roughness to genuine port, into the 20th century.[20][21][22] In rural Britain a liqueur, sloe gin, is made by infusing gin with sloes and sugar; vodka can also be infused with sloes.[23] Similarly, in Northern Greece, they make a blackthorn liqueur by infusing tsipouro with the fruit and adding sugar.[citation needed]

In Navarre, Spain, a popular liqueur called pacharán is made with sloes.[citation needed] In France a liqueur called troussepinette, or just épine or épinette, is made from the young shoots in spring (rather than from fruits in autumn).[citation needed] (Vin d'épine, likewise, is an infusion of early shoots of blackthorn macerated with sugar in wine.)[24][25] In Italy, the infusion of spirit with the fruits and sugar produces a liqueur called bargnolino (sometimes prunella).[citation needed] In France, eau de vie de prunelle[s] is distilled from fermented sloes in regions such as the Alsace.[lower-alpha 2] Wine made from fermented sloes is made in Britain, and in Germany and other central European countries.[citation needed] It is also sometimes used in the brewing of lambic beer in Belgium.[citation needed]

Culinary

Sloes can also be made into jam, chutney,[23] and used in fruit pies. Sloes preserved in vinegar are similar in taste to Japanese umeboshi. The juice of the fruits dyes linen a reddish colour that washes out to a durable pale blue.[18]

The leaves resemble tea leaves, and were used as an adulterant of tea.[21][28]

The fruit stones have been found in Swiss lake dwellings.[21] Early human use of sloes as food is evidenced in the case of a 5,300-year-old human mummy (nicknamed Ötzi), discovered in the Ötztal Alps along the Austrian-Italian border in 1991: a sloe was found near the remains, indicating that Ötzi intended to eat it before he died.[29][30]

Wood

Blackthorn makes an excellent fire wood that burns slowly with a good heat and little smoke.[31] The wood takes a fine polish and is used for tool handles and canes.[28] Straight blackthorn stems have traditionally been made into walking sticks or clubs (known in Ireland as a shillelagh).[32] 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.[citation needed]

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 prunellier) was used as an ingredient in the making of some inks used for manuscripts.[33]

A "sloe-thorn worm" used as fishing bait is mentioned in the 15th-century work, The Treatyse of Fishing with an Angle.[34]

In culture

In Middle English, slō was used to denote something of trifling value.[35][16]

The expression "sloe-black eyes" for a person with dark eyes comes from the fruit,[36] and is first attested in William Somervile's 1735 poem The Chace.[37] sloe-eyed, meanwhile, is first attested in A. J. Wilson's 1867 novel Vashti.[38]

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.[39]

The name of the dark-coloured cloth prunella was derived from the French word prunelle, meaning 'sloe'.[40]

Notes

  1. ↑ Both Frisian and Middle Low German were historically spoken in Lower Saxony.
  2. ↑ In fiction, eau de vie de prunelle is often partaken by Detective Maigret.[26][27]

References

  1. ↑ Rhodes, L.; Maxted, N. (2016). "Prunus spinosa". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T172194A19400568.en. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/172194/19400568. Retrieved 19 November 2021. 
  2. ↑ "Prunus spinosa L.". http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/rjp-43. 
  3. ↑ Clapham, A.C.; Tutin, T.G.; Warburg, E.F. (1968). Excursion Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-04656-4. 
  4. ↑ Mabey, Richard (2007). Food for Free (3rd ed.). London: HarperCollins Publishers. p. 47. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Rushforth 1999
  6. ↑ Ehrlén & Eriksson 1991.
  7. ↑ Kilbracken, J. (1995). Larousse Easy Way Guide to Trees. Larousse. ISBN 0-7523-0027X. 
  8. ↑ "Prunus spinosa – Sloe, Blackthorn". https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Prunus+spinosa. 
  9. ↑ "Blackthorn flowers". https://www.treeguideuk.co.uk/blackthorn-flowers/. 
  10. ↑ Vedel, H.; Lange, J. (1978). "Prunus spinosa". Trees and Bushes in Wood and Hedgerow. London, UK: Methuen. ISBN 0-14-063010-4. 
  11. ↑ Stace, C.A. (2019). New Flora of the British Isles (4th ed.). Middlewood Green, Suffolk, U.K.: C. & M. Floristics. ISBN 978-1-5272-2630-2. 
  12. ↑ Weinberger 1975, pp. 336–347.
  13. ↑ "Schlehen entkernen – ein Ding der Unmöglichkeit?" (in de). 12 November 2018. https://www.gartenjournal.net/schlehen-entkernen. 
  14. ↑ Johns, Charles Alexander (1882). "The Blackthorn". The Forest Trees of Britain. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. pp. 103–112, esp. 105. https://books.google.com/books?id=zBMoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA105. 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 Whitney, William Dwight; Smith, Benjamin Eli, eds (1906). "sloe". The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia. 7. https://books.google.com/books?id=D35EAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA5701. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 "sloe". Oxford English Dictionary (1st ed.). Oxford University Press. 1933. 
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "Prunus spinosa L.". Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:730297-1. 
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Coats 1992, Prunus.
  19. ↑ Brown, Lynda (July 1994). "Damson time". House & Garden 166: 140–142, esp. 142. https://books.google.com/books?id=8BlJAAAAYAAJ. 
  20. ↑  Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds (1905). "Sloe". New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead. 
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2  Rines, George Edwin, ed (1920). "Sloe". Encyclopedia Americana. 
  22. ↑ White, Florence (1952). Good English Food, Local and Regional. p. 52. https://books.google.com/books?id=-3pFGI2C9v8. "It appears that the cheaper kinds of so-called port consumed in this country are largely adulterated with sloe-juice." 
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Kerri (10 Oct 2010). "Sloe gin and sloe chutney". http://dinnerdiary.org/2010/10/10/sloe-gin-and-sloe-chutney/. 
  24. ↑ Pasty, Gilbert (1999). Glossaire des dialectes marchois et haut limousin de la Creuse. G. Pasty. p. 155. ISBN 978-2-9513615-0-8. https://books.google.com/books?id=N-zjAAAAMAAJ. 
  25. ↑ Seaton, Jessica (2017). Gather Cook Feast: Recipes from land and water by the co-founder of Toast. Penguin UK. p. 123. ISBN 978-0-241-29885-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=XGo4DQAAQBAJ&pg=PT123. 
  26. ↑ Alsace: produits du terroir et recettes traditionnelles. Albin Michel. 1998. https://books.google.com/books?isbn=2226106766. 
  27. ↑ Sacré, Jacques (2004). Bon appétit, commissaire Maigret, ou Maigret et la table. Céfal. p. 9. ISBN 978-2-87130-148-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=YQV8b--tlrkC&pg=PA9. 
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1  Beach, Chandler B., ed (1914). "Sloe". The New Student's Reference Work. Chicago: F. E. Compton and Co. 
  29. ↑ Ghose, Tia (8 November 2012). "Mummy melodrama: Top 9 secrets about Ötzi the Iceman". part 7. http://www.livescience.com/24666-otzi-iceman-mummy-life-death.html. 
  30. ↑ "Ötzi the Iceman" (in en). Museo Archeologico dell'Alto Adige. 2016. http://www.iceman.it/en/the-copper-age/. 
  31. ↑ The Burning Properties of Wood (Report). The Scout Association. 1999. http://www.scoutbase.org.uk/library/hqdocs/facts/pdfs/fs315001.pdf. 
  32. ↑ Chouinard, Maxime (2007). The stick is king: The Shillelagh Bata or the rediscovery of a living Irish martial tradition (Report). http://www.cimande.com/blackthorn/pdf/stick_edited.pdf. Retrieved 17 November 2022. 
  33. ↑ Talmud Bavli, Tractate Shabbat 23a
  34. ↑ Berners, Dame Juliana (attributed to) (3 August 2006). The Treatyse of Fishing with an Angle. Waking Lion Press. ISBN 978-1-60096-446-6. http://www.farreaches.org/compendium/treatise/onetreatise.html. 
  35. ↑ Lewis, Robert E., ed (1988). "slō". Middle English Dictionary. University of Michigan Press. p. 1063. ISBN 0-472-01198-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=fLQc0_-iQiYC&pg=PA1063. 
  36. ↑ James A. H. Murray (1919). A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles: Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by the Philological Society. Kragen Javier Sitaker. Clarendon Press at Oxford. https://archive.org/details/oed9aarch/oed9aarch/page/n237/mode/2up. 
  37. ↑ William Somerville (1675-1742) (1735). The chase; 1735. https://archive.org/details/the-chase-1735/page/14/mode/2up. 
  38. ↑ sloe-eyed (3rd ed.), Oxford University Press, September 2005, http://oed.com/search?searchType=dictionary&q=sloe-eyed  (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  39. ↑ Aveni, Anthony F. (2004). The Book of the Year: A brief history of our seasonal holidays. Oxford University Press. p. 38. ISBN 0-19-517154-3. 
  40. ↑ "prunella". Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prunella. Retrieved 2021-05-22. 

Bibliography

  • Coats, Alice M. (1992). "Prunus". Garden Shrubs and Their Histories. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-74733-9. 
  • Ehrlén, Johan; Eriksson, Ove (1991). "Phenological variation in fruit characteristics in vertebrate-dispersed plants". Oecologia 86 (4): 463–470. doi:10.1007/BF00318311. ISSN 0029-8549. 
  • Rushforth, K. (1999). Trees of Britain and Europe. Collins. ISBN 0-00-220013-9.  * Weinberger, J.H. (1975). "Plums". in Janick, J.. Advances in Fruit Breeding. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press. pp. 336–347. ISBN 0-911198-36-9. 

Wikidata ☰ Q129018 entry



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