A tree or large shrub up to 6 m tall, less often up to 8 (12) m. Crown rounded-globose or broad, fairly symmetric. It grows faster than common hawthorn. The bark of old trunks and branches is brownish-gray, young ones are reddish-brown or cherry. Spines are few, about 1 cm long, straight, sharp, very thin. The leaves are small, up to 2.5-5 cm long, broadly ovate, 3-5-lobed, dark green above, glabrous, glossy, yellow in autumn. The flowers are white, up to 1.5 cm in diameter, in compact erect inflorescences, blooms in V-VI for about 1.5-2 weeks. Fruits are ovoid-pear-shaped, up to 1 cm long, red or brownish-red, with 1 stone, edible, Mature in IX. It is distributed over most of Europe: from Scandinavia in the North and further East, including the Crimea and the Caucasus in the South, where it grows singly or in groups in thickets of shrubs, along the edges of forests, on stony slopes of mountains, ravines and river valleys.