Woolly buckthorn

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Woolly buckthorn flowers

Woolly buckthorn thorns and buds

Woolly buckthorn fruit

Woolly buckthorn bark

Woolly buckthorn leaves

Woolly buckthorn

Woolly buckthorn leaves

Woolly buckthorn thorns

Morphology

Trunk

Stems or trunk erect; branches armed, thorns straight, reddish brown to grayish brown, .4 to 1.6 inches; bark dark gray, furrows shallow, ridges blocky; wood yellowish white, hard.

Twigs

Dark gray, rigid, rusty-tomentose; leaf scars crescent-shaped, often concealed by hairs; sap milky; buds reddish brown, ovoid, .08 to .12 inch, apex obtuse, scales densely pubescent.

Leaves

Deciduous, alternate, simple; stipules absent; petiole .08 to .55 inch, glabrate or sparsely hairy to villous; blade oblong to oblanceolate or spatulate, 2 to 4 inches long, .3 to 1.6 inches wide, base truncate to attenuate, margins entire, apex rounded or obtuse to acute, lower surface light green, densely to sparsely villous with gray or nearly white hairs, upper surface dark green, glossy, sparsely to densely villous along midrib.

Flowers

Inflorescences axillary, on branches or short lateral branches of older wood, clusters, 7-30-flowered; peduncles absent; pedicels .08 to .35 inch, glabrate or villous. Flowers bisexual, radially symmetric; sepals (4-)5, distinct, elliptic to ovate, .07 to .12 inch, lanate to glabrate; petals (4-)5(-6), connate proximally, corolla lobes white, .03 to .08 inch, oblong to lanceolate or ovate; stamens 5(-6), staminodes 5(-6); pistil 1; style .04 to .06 inch; stigma 1, capitate.

Fruit

October-November; berries, purplish black, obovoid to ellipsoid, .3 to .5 inch long, .3 to .35 inch wide, becoming glabrous with age; seed 1, brown, obovoid, .28 to .35 inch long, .18 to .22 inch wide, smooth, glossy.

Ecology

Habitat

Upland woodlands, hillsides, bluffs, stream banks.

Distribution

Southeast quarter and Comanche and Barber Counties

Practical Information

Uses

The Kiowa tribe used latex from the outer bark as a sort of chewing gum.

Additional Notes

Synonyms

Alternative scientific names that have been used for this plant.