Should the Hawthorn Be Saved?

I have a Hawthorn. My brother-in-law, who is a landscaper, came over to show me how to prune what we thought was a flowering crab. However, on closer inspection, he exclaimed, &quot;Wait, this a Hawthorn bush!&quot;<p>It has gotten larger over time, and harder to mow around due to the thorns (spine-like protrusions which resemble small branch growths more than true thorns).<p>It does have one redeeming quality. Every year in early spring, for a brief but dazzling moment, it appears covered in thousands of small, white, lace-like flowers.

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&gt; With hawthorns suddenly scarce on the landscape, though, parsing out which species are real is next to impossible. “That’s the root of the problem,” Lance said. “They’re gone.”<p>Would population-scale (of those that can still be found) genetic sequencing help point the way to an answer? It&#x27;s relatively cheap now, compared to before, and odds are will be more so.

My quick answer is yes,save the tree

Yeah the thorns on these things are bad news. A scratch to the eye fron one = blindness. Even taking one to the hand can easily result in a hospital trip.<p>Was just reading last night: &quot;the thorns are &quot;particularly toxic to the eye&quot;. Corneal scratches led to loss of vision in more than half of 132 reported incidents in Ireland (Mitchell and Rook, 1979).&quot; From this book: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Handbook-Edible-Weeds-Reference-Library&#x2F;dp&#x2F;0849329469" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Handbook-Edible-Weeds-Reference-Libra...</a>

For decades now The Atlantic has run articles about not bothering to save endangered species. Probably not a coincidence that it&#x27;s been owned by a rich real estate developer and now Steve Jobs&#x27;s widow.