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Rhamnus saxatilis
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Rhamnus saxatilis' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Common Names
- Rock Buckthorn
A low, spreading, deciduous shrub, rarely more than 2 ft high; young shoots minutely downy, lateral branchlets often ending in a spine. Leaves glabrous or nearly so, narrowly oval, ovate or obovate, tapered at the base, often bluntish at the apex, finely toothed, 1⁄2 to 1 in. long, 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. wide; veins two to four each side the midrib, converging towards the apex; stalk 1⁄6 in. or less long. Flowers very small, greenish yellow. Fruits black, top-shaped, three-seeded.
Native of the mountains of Central and S.E. Europe; in cultivation 1752. A curious dwarf or stunted shrub inhabiting rocky places, belonging to the same group as R. tinctoria and R. infectoria, but distinguished by its dwarf habit and smaller, glabrous leaves.
subsp. tinctoria Nyman
Common Names
Dyer's Buckthorn
Synonyms
Rhamnus tinctoria Waldst. & Kit.
This species belongs to the same group as R. infectoria, and is a deciduous shrub up to 4 or 6 ft high, the side branchlets spine-tipped. It is distinguished from both its allies by the very hairy leaf-stalk. The largest leaves are 2 in. long by 1 in. wide, the smallest 1⁄2 in. long; oval, more or less downy beneath, and with usually three, sometimes four pairs of veins converging towards the apex. Fruits black, top-shaped.
Native of S.E. Europe; introduced in 1820, but of little garden value.