Blackthorn is a wild European bush, very common in hedges in Britain and Ireland. It is not a pretty garden shrub people plant on purpose, though the flowers are lovely. In early spring, before the leaves come out, it covers itself in small, tight white flowers, so the hedge looks dusted with snow. Then you see the twigs: they are dark, almost black, and full of long, hard thorns — that is the name, black plus thorn. Later it grows small, sour, blue-black fruit called sloes. People almost never eat them off the bush; they are too sharp, but they go into sloe gin. Walkers learn the thorns the hard way: they go through gloves. Another hedge bush, hawthorn, flowers later and looks softer; blackthorn is the earlier, whiter, meaner one.

黑刺李（歐洲野灌木，果實叫 sloe，用來泡 sloe gin）。