Take heart with hawthorn, sacred, magical, fairy friend, whitethorn, hagthorn, ladies' meat, quickthorn, maytree, and mayblossom. Open your heart to hawthorn. Let its beauty and strength imbue you with great heart, for hawthorn is the herb of healthy hearts.

Hawthorn (Cratageus) is notable for its long thorns and bright red haws (apple-like berries). The thorns may be used as needles; and hedges of thorny hawthorn grow quickly enough to keep even goats at bay. The tasty crimson haws -- called cuckoo's beads, chucky cheese, and pixie pears -- are fermented into wine or baked into little cakes, turned into jellies and wines, and tinctured to make medicine.

The leaves, flowers, and ripe berries of Cratageus oxyacantha taste great and are easily consumed in teas, infusions, and tinctures. Consistent, long-term use of hawthorn is especially recommended for aging hearts, weak hearts, damaged hearts, and those with hypertension, angina, arrhythmia, heart valve disease, or Reynaud's disease (arterial spasms).

Regular use of hawthorn can
•    Lower blood pressure
•    Increase the effectiveness of the heart's pumping action
•    Strengthen the heart muscle
•    Slow the heartbeat
•    Dilate coronary arteries
•    Prevent heart disease, heart attack, and stroke
•    Help those healing from heart surgery 
•    Support the immune system
•    Increase longevity

The German Commission E -- a scientific body which determines the effectiveness of herbal medicines -- recommends tea or tincture of hawthorn for

•    Cardiac insufficiency corresponding to stages I and II of the NYHA
•    Feelings of pressure and tightness in the cardiac region
•    The ageing heart not yet requiring digitalis
•    Mild bradyarrhythmia
•    Increasing coronary and myocardial circulation

There are no contraindications and no overdose of hawthorn. It is safe to take with any other medicine, including other heart medicines. (Though it is redundant to take blood pressure medicine after taking hawthorn for three months.)

Hawthorn is member of the rose family, and thus closely related to rose hips, apples, cherries, apricots, and almonds.

Hawthorn tea is typically made by steeping two teaspoonfuls of dried leaves and flowers in a cup of boiling water for twenty minutes.

Hawthorn infusion is made by steeping one ounce of dried flowers and leaves, or one ounce of dried haws, in a quart of boiling water for at least four hours.

I make hawthorn tincture by soaking dried hawthorn haws in 100 proof vodka for at least six months, or until it turns quite red.

A dose is a cup of tea, half a cup of infusion, or a dropperful of tincture, taken first thing in the morning and last thing at night. For the first three months of use, a third dose, mid-day, may be added. Traditional European herbalists always add a big spoon of honey to hawthorn tea or infusion. They believe that sweetness heals the heart.