Lookalikes

Blackthorn or crab apple?

Both are thorny hedge plants with white flowers.

The quickest check

The quickest check is when it flowers. Blackthorn: mid-March into April, before the leaves. Crab apple: May, on into June. No flowers on the tree? Check the surface of a leaf.

At a glance

Look at	Blackthorn	Crab apple
When it flowers	Mid-March into April, before the leaves	May, on into June
Surface of a leaf	Wrinkled and dull green	Glossy, and folded a little
Fruit in autumn	Sloe about 15 mm, dusty blue	Yellowish green apple, 2 to 3 cm across

Three ways to tell them apart

When it flowersFlowers

Blackthorn: when it flowers — BlackthornMid-March into April, before the leaves

Crab apple: when it flowers — Crab appleMay, on into June

Surface of a leafLeaves

Blackthorn: surface of a leaf — BlackthornWrinkled and dull green

Crab apple: surface of a leaf — Crab appleGlossy, and folded a little

Fruit in autumnSloes

Blackthorn: fruit in autumn — BlackthornSloe about 15 mm, dusty blue

Crab apple: fruit in autumn — Crab appleYellowish green apple, 2 to 3 cm across

Think you can tell them apart now? Try the tree quiz: real photographs, and what gives each tree away.Take the quiz

The two trees

Blackthorn

Prunus spinosa

Blackthorn is a dense shrub with stiff, thorny branches. Its white flowers open on the bare, almost black stems in March, and in autumn it carries dusty blue sloes.

How to identify blackthorn →

Crab apple

Malus sylvestris

Crab apple grows into a small tree, sometimes spiny, with glossy oval leaves that are smooth underneath once grown. In autumn it carries small, hard, yellowish green apples.

How to identify crab apple →

Their other lookalikes

Blackthorn or hawthorn?Quickest check: the flowers and leaves, and when

Blackthorn or cherry plum?Quickest check: the flower and its stalk

Blackthorn or spindle?Quickest check: the top of a leaf

Blackthorn or wild cherry?Quickest check: how the flowers sit

Crab apple or pear?Quickest check: the flower colour, and when

Crab apple or hawthorn?Quickest check: the outline of a leaf

Crab apple or wild cherry?Quickest check: the trunk

In the app

See them side by side in Treely

Both trees, part by partLeaves, bark, buds, flowers and fruit, photographed through the year
Every lookalike side by sideThe checks that settle it, for every pair people mix up
A short round each dayUntil you can tell them apart at a glance
The full GuideBoth trees written up in full, with where to find them

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Every fact on this page is checked against the Collins Tree Guide, last in November 2026. Spotted something that looks wrong in front of a real tree? Tell us. How we check.

Photographs: steve_mcwilliam (CC0), kh-c (CC0), empressmoth (CC0), nicolahallows (CC0), Nicola Crockford (CC BY 4.0), Daniel Cahen (CC BY 4.0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.