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Blackthorn - Prunus spinosa
Dense shrub from 1 to 4 metres in height suckering freely and with spiny branches. Flowers white 10 to 15 mm solitary, but dense on branches, appearing before the leaves. Fruit rounded 10 to 15 mm black with a bluish bloom.
Prunus domestica agg. and Prunus cerasifera
Twigs very spiny. 1st twigs brown to grey, often hairy. Small fruit with scarcely flattened stone. Flowers appear before leaves
May be mis-recorded for P domestica. Photo showing spiny twigs and/or fruit/fruit stone. It may not be possible to verify this from a photo of flowers alone
Hedgerows, woodland and scrub.
March to May.
Deciduous.
Very common throughout most of Britain.
Very common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 595 of the 617 tetrads.
Leicestershire & Rutland Map
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Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015
UK Map
Species profile
- Common names
- Sloe, Sloe Berry, Blackthorn
- Species group:
- Trees, Shrubs & Climbers
- Kingdom:
- Plantae
- Order:
- Rosales
- Family:
- Rosaceae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 523
- First record:
- 01/07/1998 (John Mousley)
- Last record:
- 30/10/2024 (Smith, Peter)
Total records by month
% of records within its species group
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