''Sageretia'' (mock buckthorn or sageretia) is a genus of about 35 species of shrubs and small

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s in the family

Rhamnaceae The Rhamnaceae are a large family of flowering plants, mostly trees, shrubs, and some vines, commonly called the buckthorn family. Rhamnaceae is included in the order Rosales. The family contains about 55 genera and 950 species. The Rhamnaceae ...

, native to southern and eastern

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

and northeast

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. They have small green leaves 1.5–4 cm long, and a leathery multicoloured trunk. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism ...

s are small and inconspicuous; the

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...

is a small edible

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part ( exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kerne ...

1 cm diameter. The genus is named after the French botanist Augustin Sageret. ;Selected species *''

Sageretia brandrethiana ''Sageretia brandrethiana'' is a plant of the genus ''Sageretia'' and the family Rhamnaceae. It grows in the orient and northwest India. The plant produces a sweet fruit that is prized by the Afghans Afghans ( ps, افغانان, translit=af ...

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Sageretia camellifolia ''Sageretia camellifolia'' is a shrub growing to 4m in height. It has brown-grey branchlets with green shiny leaves. It grows in sparse forests or thickets on top of limestone hills, and can be found in West Guangxi, China China, offic ...

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Sageretia filiformis ''Sageretia'' (mock buckthorn or sageretia) is a genus of about 35 species of shrubs and small trees in the family Rhamnaceae, native to southern and eastern Asia and northeast Africa. They have small green leaves 1.5–4 cm long, and a lea ...

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Sageretia gracilis ''Sageretia gracilis'' is a shrub with slightly shiny dark green leaves and yellow-green flowers. It grows in thickets or forests in valleys and on mountains around 1200 to 3400 meters of W Guangxi, east and south east Xizang, and Yunnan, China ...

'' *'' Sageretia hamosa'' *''

Sageretia henryi ''Sageretia henryi'' is a woody shrub reaching a height of , sometimes although growing to the size of a small tree. It has green, ovate leaves and yellow or white flowers. The shrub is found in mountain thickets and dense forests of China in t ...

'' *'' Sageretia horrida'' *''

Sageretia laxiflora ''Sageretia laxiflora'' is a 10m tall shrub. The branchlets have yellow or white tomentose, while the older branches have stout spines. It is found in thickets on slopes and grasslands up to 700 m in elevation. It is located in W. Guangxi and ...

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Sageretia lucida ''Sageretia lucida'' is a shrub and can be found with or without spines. It is found in sparse forests within valleys about 300 to 800 m in elevation. Its native distribution is south-central China, southeast China including Hainan, Nepal, Sri L ...

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Sageretia melliana ''Sageretia melliana'' is a woody shrub evergreen. It has shiny green, ovate-elliptical leaves and white-yellow or yellow flowers. The shrub is found in the forest and forest margins of China in the Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, H ...

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Sageretia omeiensis ''Sageretia'' (mock buckthorn or sageretia) is a genus of about 35 species of shrubs and small trees in the family Rhamnaceae, native to southern and eastern Asia and northeast Africa. They have small green leaves 1.5–4 cm long, and a lea ...

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Sageretia paucicostata ''Sageretia'' (mock buckthorn or sageretia) is a genus of about 35 species of shrubs and small trees in the family Rhamnaceae, native to southern and eastern Asia and northeast Africa. They have small green leaves 1.5–4 cm long, and a lea ...

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Sageretia pycnophylla ''Sageretia'' (mock buckthorn or sageretia) is a genus of about 35 species of shrubs and small trees in the family Rhamnaceae, native to southern and eastern Asia and northeast Africa. They have small green leaves 1.5–4 cm long, and a lea ...

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Sageretia randaiensis ''Sageretia randaiensis'' is a small woody shrub. It has dark green, ovate-oblong leaves. The shrub is found in the mountains of C and N Taiwan. ReferencesRHAMNACEAE randaiensis Flora of Taiwan {{Rhamnaceae-stub ...

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Sageretia rugosa ''Sageretia'' (mock buckthorn or sageretia) is a genus of about 35 species of shrubs and small trees in the family Rhamnaceae, native to southern and eastern Asia and northeast Africa. They have small green leaves 1.5–4 cm long, and a lea ...

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Sageretia subcaudata ''Sageretia subcaudata'' is a small woody shrub reaching a height of . It has green, ovate leaves and white-yellow or white flowers. The shrub is endemic to China and found in mountain forests and thickets of N Guangdong, Guizhou, W Henan, Hube ...

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Sageretia theezans ''Sageretia theezans'' (sageretia, mock buckthorn, sweet-plum or Chinese sweet plum) is a shrub from the family Rhamnaceae, native to southern China. It is widely used for creating bonsai. Description It grows to 1–3 m tall and has small green ...

Cultivation and uses

The leaves are sometimes used as a substitute for

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...

in China, and the fruit are edible, though not an important crop. ''S. theezans'', from southern China, is a popular species in

bonsai Bonsai ( ja, 盆栽, , tray planting, ) is the Japanese art of growing and training miniature trees in pots, developed from the traditional Chinese art form of ''penjing''. Unlike ''penjing'', which utilizes traditional techniques to produce ...

. ''S. paucicostata'', from northern China, is the most cold-tolerant species and is occasionally grown in gardens in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

and North America, though it is not generally considered very attractive as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

. It is reputedly used as a way of cleaning minor cuts and lacerations, ensuring any germs left over will not infect the wound.

References

Rhamnaceae genera Taxa named by Adolphe-Théodore Brongniart {{Rhamnaceae-stub