Prunus spinosa

Prunus spinosa, known as blackthorn or sloe, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It is native to Europe and West Asia and has become naturalised in parts of North America. Its fruits, called sloes, are used to flavour sloe gin in Great Britain and patxaran in the Basque Country, a liqueur of that region. The wood is made into walking sticks, among them the Irish shillelagh, a traditional Irish club-like stick. The source article this entry draws on gives only a short account of the species, so this description is limited to its classification, its native and naturalised range, and the two uses it records, one for the fruit and one for the wood, and it makes no further claim about the plant.