I always look forward to the end of May because I love to go out and pick Hawthorn Flowers. These flowers are so fragrant and pretty but due to a substance called triethylamine the flowers eventually develop an unpleasant odor. Hawthorn is in the rose family and the flowers have 5 petals. They bloom in dense clusters on the thorny Hawthorn bushes or trees. You will see white or pink flowers blooming on the Hawthorn trees in late May. I always coordinate it with when school gets out. The berries are ripe for picking when school starts in late summer. 

Folk medicine and modern research alike are proving Hawthorn to be a prime cardiac tonic and restorer. Hawthorn is good for both high and low blood pressure, rapid or arrhythmic heart beat, inflammation of the heart muscle and arteriosclerosis. Hawthorn has been shown to improve coronary and myocardial circulation by dilating the coronary arteries. There hasn’t been a degenerative condition of the cardiovascular system that hasn’t benefited from the use of hawthorn and hawthorn has no side effects or contraindications. It can be used long term for any heart condition. 

Dr. Christopher knew the benefits of hawthorn berries. He created his famous hawthorn berry syrup which has helped many people. He said that there are several hundred types of heart diseases known to the medical profession, but the good thing about hawthorn  berry syrup is that it will heal all of them, including “broken hearts”.

The following is a testimonial of this hawthorn berry syrup:

Heart leakage Healed: During the second World War a man had been accepted to work in a large chemical depot. The firm had hired him because he was physically unfit for military service - he had a heart leakage - and they were short of manpower. They placed him in their construction division without a physical examination when he was sixty-two years of age, and he worked for them until he was sixty-five years old. He had begun using this heart tonic when he was sixty years old, using it faithfully because, according to him, it tasted good. Now he was sixty -five years old and the war came to an end. He was called into the company’s main office, where they complimented his work record and asked him if he would remain as an employee. He wanted to, but feared the necessary physical examination. He finally agreed to take the examination.

 

You may imagine his surprise when he found that he had been given a clean bill of health. He asked the doctor, “What about my heart leakage?” The doctor replied, “I wish I had a heart as good as yours. You should never worry about dying from a heart attack; in fact, if you don’t get hit by a truck or lightning you will probably die quietly in your sleep from old age and won’t even muss up the covers.” This man worked several more years at the plant, retired, and then lived on until he was in his eighties. On a July evening in 1970, he went to the rodeo with his family and enjoyed the evening like a kid as he watched his son ride and perform. The next morning one of his sons came over to his home and found his father lying peacefully in his bed. He had passed away with his hands folded over his chest and, just as the doctor had predicted, the covers were not even mussed up. No heart attack, just the final sleep of old age. 

The berries are used most often, but we can’t overlook the medicinal qualities of the flowers and the leaves. They also are used as heart medicine and have many of the same properties. Since heart disease is the number one killer in the US, it is good to know that we have such wonderful, safe and effective medicine in the hawthorn tree. 

Jo Francks is a Master Herbalist working at the School of Natural Healing.