Interesting facts

Anyone who tries to get through a blackthorn hedge will realize where the Latin name "spinosa" (= thorny) comes from. The alternative common name, sloe, is of Germanic origin (old high German "slêha") and is probably related to the old Bulgarian "sliva" and the Latin "lividus" = bluish. The name sloe would therefore refer to the blue fruits. The name blackthorn, on the other hand, refers to the black bark of older blackthorn trees.

The ancient Teutons already knew about the protective action of the blackthorn: together with hawthorn it was used for the first garden hedges which protected apple trees and herbs from game-damage. Incidentally, the Indogermanic word "gher" (= to catch) developed into the word "ghortos" which means literally "fenced in, enclosed". It was thus the fence that gave the garden its name, the woven fence or the protecting hedge enclosing a piece of land along the wall of a house.

In some places blackthorn is believed to ward off spells and have prophesying powers. In the night of St. Ottilie it was customary to burn blackthorn branches as incense and on Walpurgis night blackthorn was burnt together with juniper and rue to ward off evil spirits.

There are two German farmers' sayings connected with blackthorn blossom:

"Ist die Schlehe weiß wie Schnee,
ist's Zeit, daß man die Gerste säe."

(When blackthorn blossoms snowy white
For sowing barley the time is right)

"Je zeitiger im April die Schlehe blüht,
umso früher vor Jakobi die Ernte glüht."

(The earlier the blackthorn flowers appear
The earlier the farmers will harvest this year)

Blackthorn provides a richly decked table for numerous animals: the lush flowers are welcomed by early flying insects, for example many wild bees (sand bees, cuckoo bees and others), bumble bees, beetles and flies. The leaves, which appear later, are particularly popular amongst caterpillars, for example those of the Scarce Swallowtail, the Brown and Black Hair Streak, the endangered Small Emperor Moth and especially those of the sociable Ermine Moths which build silky tents in the branches and are sometimes so numerous that whole blackthorn populations are stripped bare. The birds that nest in the blackthorn, such as the Red-backed Shrike and the Yellowhammer, find a veritable land of milk and honey there. For birds and mice which depend on berries in winter the spiny shrub is an indispensable larder and guarantee of survival.

Blackthorn was important for humans in very early times. Archeologists have found fruit stones at the sites of Neolithic pile villages. The Arabs, Greeks and Romans and people in the Middle Ages used the flowers and fruits as medicines and food. Asclepiades and Andromachus, for example, praised a thickened fruit juice from sloes as an effective remedy for dysentery. The tough wood of the undemanding blackthorn was also formerly used in agriculture. The bark provided blackthorn ink, the fruits a red and the bark a brownish dye for wool and linen.

Today the fruits of the blackthorn are still used to brew warming drinks for harsh winter evenings: sloe wine and sloe gin make you feel cozy indoors while the snow rages outside. But syrups, jellies and jams are also a vitamin-rich delicacy.