A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 Thorn Bush

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>