Blackthorn
Prunus spinosa
Draighean

Blackthorn, or Sloe, is a much-branched deciduous shrub often seen growing in hedges. The flowers are a pure white and have five petals.
They usually appear before the leaves, which are oval and slightly toothed. There are strong, pointed spines on the branches, and the effect in winter is of black branches and huge black thorns. The bluish black fruit, sloe, is not poisonous but is bitter.
The shrub grows on waste land as well as in hedges through out the country. It will not grow on peat.
Blackthorn was traditionally made into strong sticks and weapons; sometimes these were buried with corpses. The leaves were considered a cure for indigestion. The fruit was, and still is, made into sloe wine and sloe gin; in the old days it was picked before Hallowe'en, and considered unwholesome afterwards.
The flowers open in March, and look striking on the bare almost leafless branches.
Blackthorn grows over most of Europe and extends to south-west Siberia.