African Box-thorn

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African Box-thorn - Russell Best via NatureShare | African Box-thorn - Russell Best via NatureShare

Lycium ferocissimum

A densely branched shrub with spiny branches. Pale green leaves grow in clusters at the base of each spine. The leaves are up to 4 cm long and 1 cm wide. Single flowers are up to 12 mm long with a white or pale lilac corolla which may have purple blotches on the petal lobes.

Details
Flora Type
Shrubs
Distinctive Features

Clustered leaves and spines. The fruit is a berry, initially green and maturing to orange-red. The fruits are partially covered by the green cup-like calyx.

Biology

Perennial. Grows in a range of disturbed environments and invades grasslands.

Native Status
Introduced
Flowering Time

Flowers spring and summer.

Taxonomy
Phylum
Tracheophyta (Vascular Plants)
Class
Magnoliopsida (Flowering Plants)
Order
Solanales
Family
Solanaceae
Genus
Lycium
Species
ferocissimum

Source: Atlas of Living Australia

Birds and foxes eat and disperse the fruit while the dense shrub provides cover for rabbits and foxes. Once used as a hedge plant, now declared a noxious weed. In the Nightshade family. Native to southern Africa and naturalised in Aust and NZ.

Interesting Facts
Native Status
Introduced