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Paliurus spina-christi

Species of shrub

Summary

Species of shrub

Paliurus spina-christi, commonly known as Jerusalem thorn, garland thorn, Christ's thorn, or crown of thorns, is a species of Paliurus native to the northern Mediterranean region, Southwest Asia and Central Asia, from Spain and southern France east to Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

Description

It is a deciduous shrub or small tree growing to 3–4 m tall. The shoots are zig-zagged, with a leaf and two stipular spines (one straight, one curved) on the outside of each kink. The leaves are oval, 2–5 cm long and 1–4 cm broad, glossy green, with an entire margin. The fruit is a dry woody nutlet centred in a circular wing 2–3.5 cm in diameter.

Etymology

As suggested by the Latin name, the spiny branches of this shrub were thought to be used to make the crown of thorns placed on Jesus' head before his crucifixion. Ziziphus spina-christi, the Christ's thorn jujube, is also identified as being used for the crown of thorns.

Uses

It is viewed as an ornamental curiosity, grown for its odd-looking discus-like fruit, and is cultivated in some areas outside its native range, including western Europe north to Great Britain.

It is locally naturalised in northwestern Africa, northern India, Hungary, and in the United States in Texas.

Gallery

File:Paliurus spina-christi kz02.jpg|Foliage and flowers, in northern Greece File:Paliurus spina-christi MHNT.BOT.2004.0.467.jpg|Fruit and seeds of Paliurus spina-christi File:Paliurus spina-christi, Christ's Thorn shrub bearing fruits which are woody nutlets centered in a circular wing among the ruins of Side.jpg|Paliurus spina-christi, Christ's thorn shrub bearing fruit among the ruins of Side, Turkey. File:Paliurus spina-christi - Karaçalı seeds.jpg|Dry fruit, at Gaziantep, Turkey

References

"''Paliurus spina-christi'' Mill.".
(2015-07-01). "The Paliurus spina-christi dominated vegetation in Europe". Biologia.
Rushforth, K.. (1999). "Trees of Britain and Europe". Collins.
O'Kennon, Robert J.. (1991). "Paliurus spina-christi (Rhamnaceae) New for North America in Texas". SIDA, Contributions to Botany.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

rhamnaceae plants-described-in-1753 botanical-taxa-named-by-carl-linnaeus trees-of-mediterranean-climate taxa-named-by-philip-miller flora-of-the-mediterranean-basin crown-of-thorns

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