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.