''Paliurus'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Rhamnaceae The Rhamnaceae are a large Family (biology), 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 specie ...

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

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

and

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

from

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

east to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

Description

They are

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

s 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, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

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

leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leav ...

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

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

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 Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

, 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 (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

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 (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e of some

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

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, Southwest Asia and Central Asia, from Morocco and Spain east to ...

'' Mill.

Formerly placed here

*''

Dracontomelon dao ''Dracontomelon dao'', the Argus pheasant-tree, ''Pacific walnut'', ''Papuan walnut'', ''New Guinea walnut'', ''paldao'' or simply ''dao'', is a tree in the family Anacardiaceae, native to tropical Asia. Description ''Dracontomelon dao'' grows a ...

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

References

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