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Crataegus monogyna
The hawthorns that grow in Wales and the Lake District of England are unique in the world. Their habitat consists of a shallow layer of peat over slate and metamorphic sandstone, that supports only rank sedge grasses and bracken, plus the occasional hawthorn. The trunks of these ancient specimens are forced by the heavy wet vegetation to grow almost horizontally, twisting and turning until they become strong enough to hold their heads above the surrounding plants. As soon as this happens, the sheep move in and continuously browse the emerging shoots, creating a dense dome of contorted twigs.

They are very rare, and when you do pass by one, it is hard to spot. In the first two verses of his poem "The Thorn", William Wordsworth described perfectly how these unique trees grow:

There is a thorn; it looks so old,
In truth you'd find it hard to say,
How it could ever have been young,
It looks so old and grey.
Not higher than a two-year's child,
It stands erect this aged thorn;
No leaves it has, no thorny points;
It is a mass of knotted joints,
A wretched thing forlorn.
It stands erect, and like a stone
With lichens it is overgrown.

Like rock or stone, it is o'ergrown
With lichens to the very top,
And hung with heavy tufts of moss,
A melancholy crop:
Up from the earth these mosses creep,
And this poor thorn they clasp it round
So close, you'd say that they were bent
With plain and manifest intent,
To drag it to the ground;
And all had joined in one endeavour
To bury this poor thorn for ever.

They are also hard to collect, with long thick roots that seem to go on for ever. Once collected, it takes a good five or six years to establish a new viable root system. Success is not always guaranteed.

I imported six yamadori Welsh hawthorns in December 2007, and they will be in quarantine until Christmas 2009. Meanwhile, I can at least begin to develop them. Below are links to these venerable old stumps immediately after potting up on December 17th 2007....