The Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) is not really a tree we notice for its foliage, though its leaves were, apparently, one of the models for the foliage that wreathes the faces of Green Men seen in carvings in churches.

And, according to Richard Mabey’s Flora Britannica, Bread-and-cheese is a vernacular name given to the leaves of the Hawthorn in some places around Britain. He says: ‘This is usually explained as referring to their rudimentary culinary qualities’ but then quotes a correspondent who writes:

We would pick the red berries and green leaves in the autumn. These were known as “bread and cheese” – the leaf the bread, the berry the cheese.

In the autumn, though the leaves of the Hawthorn do, of course, change colour, the hues are mostly yellow and brown, with just the merest hint of red. So it’s the stunning red berries rather than the tree’s leaves that makes the Hawthorn stand out in the autumnal landscape. I’ve never tried eating the berries but Mabey notes that the ‘flesh is a little like overripe avocado pear or, more fancifully, a whey cheese.’ That doesn’t sounds very appetising to me so I think I’ll continue to admire, not to eat them.