Rust
Our hawthorn has finished flowering and is covered with fruit.These are called “haws” and they are where half of the tree’s name comes from.
But this year, they’re all covered with orange spikes!
They’ve never looked like that before.
It turns out that the tree is infected with a fungus called Gymnosporangium, or more commonly “rust”. It has an interesting life cycle which involves moving back and forth between apple relatives (like the hawthorn) and junipers (which we have nearby).
