''Paliurus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

s in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

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 ...

. The eight species are native to warm, dry regions of

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelag ...

and

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...

from

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria ...

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

east to Japan and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

Description

They are shrubs or 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 growing to 3–15 m tall. The shoots are zig-zagged, with a

leaf A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

and two stipular spines on the outside of each kink. The leaves are

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, a ...

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

, oval, 2–10 cm long and 1–7 cm broad, glossy green, with three conspicuous veins at the base, and an entire or bluntly toothed margin. 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 dry woody nutlet centred in a circular wing 1–3.5 cm diameter.

Ecology

''Paliurus'' species are used as food plants by the

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. Th ...

e of some Lepidoptera species including the '' Bucculatrix'' leaf-miners ''B. albella'' (feeds exclusively on ''P. spina-christi''), ''B. paliuricola'' (feeds exclusively on ''Paliurus spp.'') and ''B. turatii'' (feeds exclusively on ''P. aculeatus'').

Selected species

*'' Paliurus hemsleyanus'' Rehder ex Schirarend & Olabi (Southern China) *'' Paliurus orientalis'' (Franch.) Hemsl. (Central China) *'' Paliurus ramosissimus'' (Lour.) Poir. (Eastern Asia) *''

Paliurus spina-christi ''Paliurus spina-christi'', commonly known as Jerusalem thorn, garland thorn, Christ's thorn, or crown of thorns, is a species of '' Paliurus'' native to the Mediterranean region and southwest and central Asia, from Morocco and Spain east to Iran ...

'' Mill.

Formerly placed here

*'' Dracontomelon dao'' (Blanco) Merr. & Rolfe (as ''P. dao'' Blanco or ''P. edulis'' Blanco) *''

Harrisonia perforata ''Harrisonia perforata'' is a species of liana in the family Rutaceae. Its recorded distribution includes: Andaman Islands, Nicobar Islands, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Indo-China, Java and Lesser Sunda Islands, but no subspecies are listed in the Cata ...

'' (Blanco) Merr. (''as P. perforata'' Blanco)

References

* * * Rhamnaceae Rhamnaceae genera Taxa named by Philip Miller {{Rhamnaceae-stub