NameThatPlant.net: Rhamnus cathartica

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Rosales

Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.

Check out EDDMapS.org to see where this has been reported.

Read more about Common Buckthorn at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Rhamnus cathartica FAMILY Rhamnaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)

Rhamnus cathartica

Rhamnus cathartica

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)

Rhamnus cathartica

COMMON NAME:
Common Buckthorn, European Buckthorn

To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_rhca3_001_lvd

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / US Forest Service pnd_rhca3_004_lhd

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Rhamnus cathartica FAMILY Rhamnaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Rhamnus cathartica

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Rhamnus cathartica

3824

Shrub; Tree
Perennial
Dioecious

Habitat: Disturbed areas, per Weakley's Flora

Non-native: Eurasia

Rare

map
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.

This plant may be causing problems in natural areas outside its native range, according to authorities such as:

IS THE PLANT "ARMED"?
Armed with spinose spur shoots

LEAVES:
Deciduous
Simple
Leaves usually opposite to subopposite, sometimes alternate or on short shoots
Petioles 1-2.7cm long

FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
Yellowish-green
4-merous
4 petals in staminate flowers (petals absent in pistillate flowers)
Unisexual

FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Black
Drupe

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!