The inscription on the plaque beneath reads: "This hawthorn is probably the oldest tree in France. Its origin goes back to St Julien (3rd century)", but such claims are impossible to verify.
Apart from large areas of moorland, small areas of Mynydd Fforest have been re-taken by native trees, such as Mountain Ash, Sessile Oak, Holly, Hazel, Hawthorn, Blackthorn, and Ash.
A poem about English trees but emphasising the symbolic nature of Oak, Ash and Thorn.
Top left: a crowned hawthorn bush and the letters HR, representing King Henry VII and the legend that the crown was discovered by the guard in a hawthorn bush following the Battle of Bosworth.
Crataegus | Crataegus monogyna | Crataegus laevigata | ''Crataegus'' spp. | Crataegus orientalis | Crataegus mexicana | Crataegus crus-galli | ''Crataegus'' |
It grows in the margins of forests or unforested areas as woods in regeneration, prickly woodland fringes, with other thorny shrub species (for example, Clematis vitalba, Crataegus monogyna, Malus sylvestris, Prunus spinosa, Rubus idaeus or Rubus ulmifolius).
The larvae feed on various herbaceous plants, such as Cytisus scoparius, Crataegus monogyna, Rubus fruticosus, Calluna vulgaris, Onobrychis viciifolia, Salvia pratensis and Lotus corniculatus
They have also partaken of the berries of the common hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), as well as Coprosma and Cyathodes, and even leaf buds of the Common Osier (Salix viminalis).
The calcareous grassland is dominated by Festuca species and Dactylis glomerata, while the scrub towards the west of the site is dominated by Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) and Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), while that to the east consists of Common Gorse (Ulex europaeus) and Bramble (Rubus fruticosus agg).
They can be encountered from May through late summer feeding on small insects and on nectar and pollen of flowers from various plants (mainly Apiaceae family, as Anthriscus sylvestris, Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium), but also on Rubus fruticosus and Crataegus monogyna.