Carolina Buckthorn
Frangula caroliniana
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Carolina grows from southwestern Virginia westward to Ohio and Nebraska, and southward to Texas, Florida, and northeastern Mexico. It grows in moist, well-drained soils and partial to full sun.
Fruit: A 5-7 mm wide, black, globose, berrylike drupe. It appears from August to October.
Flowers: A small, insignificant flower appearing in small cluster at the base of leaves. They bloom from April to May.
Uses: Carolina buckthorn is sometimes planted as an ornamental to attract birds or in places where overheard space is restricted by powerlines.
Ethnobotany: The fruit has been used in the past for its medicinal properties.
Importance to wildlife: Carolina buckthorn attracts pollinators. Songbirds and other wildlife eat the fruit.
The full carolina buckthorn tree. It can grow as shrub or a small tree, up to 30 feet tall.
The bark of a carolina buckthorn. Bark is smooth and gray-brown. It sometimes has dark splotches, slightly raised lenticels, or shallow fissures.
The underside of a carolina buckthorn leaf. Leaves are 6-15 cm long, 3 times as long as wide, lustrous green above, and paler and glabrous below. Veins end at the margin, but upcurve to parallel to the margin.
The leaf margin of a carolina buckthorn. Leaves are very finely toothed, as in this photo, or entire.
The terminal bud of a carolina buckthorn. Terminal buds are 5-8 mm long, slender, naked, light brown, and wooly.
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