The leaves are small and slender and densely cover the branches, which grow in attractive layers. This normally beautiful shrub or small tree is at its very best in June, when it is covered in white blossom. In autumn it enlivens the countryside with its bright red berries.
The English hawthorn can be difficult to differentiate from the other native hawthorn, Crataegus rhipidophylla, which is also very rare in the wild in Finland; the former is classed as endangered, the latter as threatened.