A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 Thorn Bush

Just got this plant. It is a medium shade of green , rose-like tiny leaves, aqnd very few of them , It's about 7 ft tall and covered with thorns 3 inches long. Have a picture.

Blossomhunter1,

If you go to one of these sites, *and there is other's too, just can't remember the names*....

WebShots
PhotoBucket
Imagestation

It's FREE to download your pictures too....
Then you can attach the URL from the place you choose, copy and paste the URL, then click on the IMAGE botton, and insert the URL into there.
*there will be a highlighted blue http:/ thing there, either delete it or click your backspace button to get rid of it

I hope this helps..

Weezie

P/S There's some other gardener's that do use pictures alot and maybe able to help you alot better than I did, Afgreyparrot/Cindy, Loz, Jiffy, G~mom, plants~n~Pots, Carly....tons of them know how and can give you a hand if you need it....


***And Welcome to The Garden Helper's Forum!!!
We are very glad you found us????

Hi Blossom...its really nice to meet you!

I'd be more than happy to help you get started on posting pics Everybody here is "Addicted" to photos

Welcome to the forum,glad you dropped in!

G~Mom

I PM'd Blossomhunter1 this afternoon and offered to post her photos for her.
Dang! There are some MASSIVE thorns here!
OUCH!

Could it be a pyracantha?

Gardencrazy

Googling like crazy here..

Could it be a Big-horned spurge (Euphorbia grandicornis) ?

Meg

OK, I believe Gardencrazy may very well be correct. According to Websters Dictionary, py.acan.tha , a tree fr. pyr- + akantha -thorn,: any of a small genus(Pyracantha) of Eurasian thorny evergreen or semi-evergreen shrubs of the rose family with alternate leaves, corymbs of white flowers, and small reddish pomes. more at Acanth- Acanth=thorn: spine/ pome:, apple, pome, ball: a fleshy fruit consisting of an outer thickened fleshy layer and a central core with usu. five seeds enclosed in a capsule. (Websters Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary) Now we will just have to wait til it blooms and I think it will pretty much turn out to be a pyracantha. Thanks go to all who replied. your fellow gardener "Blossomhunter"

Blossomhunter,

Hope you send us a follow up on this....
We LOVE to hear

Weezie

And stick around some, got some very nice
people here, and very friendly!!!
Lot's to do here besides the gardening!!!!

another plant with massive thorns are plum trees. i had some at my house in florida that bore little yellow plums (edible, but more seed than not) and the thorns were very similar...

I will continue to read and respond or post new questions. So glad I found this site. I've been gardening ever since I can remember back in time. Raised on a farm , it's in my blood. I'll be posting pictures of all my blossoms this spring and summer.

I dont think its a Pyracantha as the thorns are too massive and its evergreen. Most Euphorbia have milky sap, you may want to check for that trate. A pic of the winter buds would be helpfull. My best guess at this point is that it is a Gleditsia (Honey Locust), now most of the Honey Locust that one will find are forma inermis whaich is the Thorness Honey Locust, so if you Google be sure to distinguish between Gleditsia triacanthos and Gleditsia triacanthos forma (often writen as f.) inermis. I hope this is of some assistance good luck.

It looks kind of like trifoliate orange to me. They have green stems and are very thorny. I have a couple, and the growth habit of my young trees looks just like the tree in your photo Blossomhunter1, only my trees aren't as big yet.

Note: when they get older, they will fill out and become very dense like the photos in my link. My trees at present are kind of straggly and leaning like yours.

I've been holding off on saying yes to any of
the one's just posted,
but I really think Terry's got it..

I had grown something like this my self,
*Didn't over winter up here though *
but I kept thinking it was a grapefruit..

Let me back up, we had a plant, and something else sprouted in it and wasn't sure what it was,
mother was always sticking seeds into dirt,
so didn't know or remember what it was.....

but everytime I looked up grapefruit there wasn't anything there...
and not for plums either, *we grew those too*
but...........

I do think it's the orange!!!!

Ohhhhh, keep us posted with some pictures of
it's leaves and flowers!!!!

Weezie

Except Citrus are evergreen plants.

Arc,
Would the plant go dormant in the growing
zone where she is??? ???????
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Found another picture of the one Arc's suggested..
Gleditsia (Honey Locust)


What's everyone else think????

Tend to agree with Arctostaphylos on Honeylocust [Gleditisia triacanthos].

Here is another picture with higher resolution:

Honeylocust

Size 70-80 feet tall, with 5-9 inches long leaves compound or doubly compound with elliptical, round-tipped leaflets; twigs with 3-branched thorns; bark dark gray-brown, often thorny; pods flat, twisted with many seeds.

I had another thought. Maybe a Washington Hawthorn.

Gardencrazy

Washington Hawthorn

My aunt planted a lemon tree and when it was through fruiting, all that has come back so far have been thorns. No leaves or anything else this past summer. Just thorny branches.

Dianna

OK folks, I'm going to collect some leaves from this thing and scan them in my scanner, maybe that will help. It's definately not an orange, grapefruit, or locust. It surely is closely related or is a kind of rose or something. Does anyone know what a botanica plant is? My aunt told me that might be it???? Also it doesn't ooze anthing when it is cut. If one of the thorns stick you , believe me you will bleed, I did, they are sharp as needles. Keep responding, Hopefully someone will come up with a picture of something that matches my pictures. Have a great "Gardening Day" Blossomhunter

I am sorry to say I could not open the link Weezie provided. But as the the issue of domancy, true dormancy where the plant stops growing only happens where the soil freezes and the plant looses all its leaves (deciduous) where I live the roots grow in winter so technically they are not dormant. But to answer Weezie's question directly when an evergreen plant looses all its leaves there is a short window in which they must be replaced or the plant will starve. Evergreen plants can not go into "dormancy" and return, they are "dormant" forever more. Hope this is of some assistance.

Arc,
Here's the URL, copy and paste..
http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek021108.html

Also, I do understand what you mean by the dormancy thing..
So, probably not something in the lines of the
fruit trees...

I would love to see further pictures too....
Leaves and flowers if any!!!

WOW, What a stumper!!!
But I love a good Mystery!!!

And this is sooooooooo much fun with others joining in on it too....
I am easily amused but this has been fun!!!!
Thanks for the good mystery and guessing!!!!

That other one is a stumper too with the clump of something!!!!

Weezie

I still think it's trifoliate orange. Here's another picture where you can see the branches and thorns better.

Even though this is related to citrus, it's not an evergreen. It loses it's leaves in winter.

trifoliate orange

Here's pictures of the leaves Blossomhunter emailed to me...
I zoomed in on the leaves for a close-up.

Man, they really don't look like the locust tree.
The locust has too many tiny leaves...

And the one that Terry sent the leaves are really shiney..
But the shape seems to be very much the same....

What does everyone else think????

Weezie

Ok the stem is similar to the trifoliate orange, but the leaves are totally different, my thorn plant looses it's leaves in winter but it doesn't loose the green color, and it doesn't have any kind of buds or anything. The main stem is very similar though. Maybe we are getting closer. I tried to give a friend one of these plants as I have 2 large ones and several small seedlings. Her husband absoutely would not let her keep it. I had to bring it back home and replant it. He took one look at the thorns and said no way!!!! Well I like it I think it is quite unique.

Well when I saw the first pic I was under the impression the thorns were on the order of 3" (too large to be Poncirus trifoliata (Trifoliate-Orange)). However upon seeing the follage it does look like Trifoliate-Orange to me. If the thorns are 1"-2", singular at each node with a wide base, and the stem is triangular then I say it is Trifoliate-Orange. Hope this is of some assistance.

Blossomhunter, those leaves in the picture from afgrey are definitely trifoliate (means 3 leaved) orange.

I'd have to say the same,
the shape seems to be the same,
the only difference to my eyeball
is the shine on the one,
but the person taking that picture
could have very well put mayo on them
and buffed them up reallll pur~dy for the shot..

Any other pictures out there we can find???

Weezie

P/S This has been truely fun!!
Thanks to ALL who have participated in this one!!

Here are some pictures that show the leaves of the trifoliate orange. http://www.forestry.auburn.edu/samuelson/dendrology/rutaceae/trifoliate_orange_____poncirus_t.htm The first and third pictures especially.

This page shows the different leaves and varieties of Bitter Orange. The leaf is identical to the Frost variety.
Bitter orange

Gardencrazy

1. I did not put mayo or anything else on the leaves of the thorn plant. 2. I removed the thorns so that the glass of my scanner would not be scratched. 3. Compare the trifoliate orange leaves to the leaves in my picture, There are marked differences. 4. The thorns in the pictures of the orange, have red on the tips , mine doesn't. 5. The thorn bush has a similar bark on the main trunk but it is totally green. The thorns are 3-4 inches long' I will scan a thorn in. The tiny thorns are only on the leaf stems. 5. There seems to be a lot of similaraties between these two plants, but they are definitely not identical.

Bloosomhunter,
That was the other picture we were comparing
it too, I remarked how shiney the leaves were.
Not that you put it on.....

To me the leaves shapes were the same...
Where the branch is, and how the stem connected
to it.. and then 3 leaves on top of that...
Just the shininess was the difference....

Yes, please send another portion of the plant..

Weezie

P/S We've had some fun with this Mystery plant,
Thanks for sending it to us!!!

The trifoliate orange looks more like my plant than anything I have seen so far. I've been checking the links to the tri-org. pictures and even tho it isnt a total match it's as close as a pink rose is to a red rose??? Perhaps it's just a different variation of the same species. The thorns are different, theres no other color on my plant except pea green.

Would it be that yours is younger
and some of the pictures we've been looking at from other sites maybe older plants
or vice versa???

On your's is the stem green and on the bottom
starting to look more barky??
OR all green, same, as head to toe???

And did you say you've seen flowers yet?
Or time of year it blooms???

Weezie

Don't know my plants age. It is about ten feet tall and the main trunk is barked (green) like a rose bush is. I would call it a rough texture instead of bark. I haven't seen it bloom but I assume it will bloom sometime in spring or summer. It has only a very few leaves as yet. The thorns are totally green and sharp as needles.

I would think a 10 foot plant would bloom. Mine is only 3 feet high and hasn't bloomed yet, but one of my friends has one that's good sized, but less than 10 feet I think and it blooms like crazy.

Also, when I was looking for leaf pictures, I saw at least 3 slightly different types. One had longer leaflets, one shorter rounder leaflets and one set of leaflets had sort of a scalloped edge, but all were different types of trifoliate orange.

So, yes, it could be like the difference between a red rose and a pink one.

Yes I noticed those same differences in the leaves of the trifoliats. So my plant surely is one. So far nothing else has measured up to it. I have two plants one is only 6 ft tall. My sister saw this plant, when it bloomed at it;s former location and says it has a pretty flower on it. The yard aka garden that it came from , was a plant collection spanning 30 yrs. It was a plant collectors paradise. If we can solve this one I have a couple of other mystery plants I collected from this same garden. The fellow that bought this property ,(after we dug what plants we could from it) bulldodez everything down. Can anyone tell me how to care for a camelia?

Ooooooooooh Goodie~Goodie!!! Mystery plants <img border="0" alt="[clappy]" title="" src="graemlins/clappy.gif" />

Repost that question in the plants AND flowers SECTION, you'll get alot more responses in there and I think there's one or two in there right now!

Weezie

I'm not sure just what kind of bush you have there, but the thorns look a lot like our thorn-apple trees. At least that's what they call them here; scrubby brush type trees with vicious thorns. Glad I don't have to do that every day!

Hey Thats a great Idea fo the thorn bush, No so far there is no definite answer to the Question, "What is IT? Do you have a picture of your thorn apple tree? Please post one so I can compare it to mine. This is a mind boggler. Yes the thorns on my plant are like weapons.

Some more info and picture of
Poncirus Trifoliata

YEAHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Congratulations "Super Gardner" That picture looks just like my Thorn Bush. No doubts. The thorns and leaves and main stem match. I can't wait for it to bloom and bear fruit. So far it hasn't bloomed but it has put on a few leaves. It is not quite spring here, I'm in the far southeast cornet of Tennessee. So now the mystery is over. I will be posting another plant soon. Don't have a clue what it is either.

I was going to say it looked just like it..
I was waiting to see if someone would come
along and give a confirmation too!!

It really looks like it!!

WAY TO GO PAPITO!!!

Weezie

I finally got the photo of those thornapple branches; now if I can only figure out how to post them. You can see it at
<community.webshots.com/users/mjay1014>