Frangula betulifolia

Birchleaf buckthorn Frangula betulifolia
Frangula betulifolia subsp. obovata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Rhamnaceae
Genus:	Frangula
Species:	F. betulifolia
Binomial name
Frangula betulifolia (Greene) Grubov
Natural range
Synonyms
Rhamnus betulifolia Greene Rhamnus purshiana var. betulifolia (Greene) Cory

Frangula betulifolia, the birchleaf buckthorn, is a shrub or small tree in the buckthorn family, Rhamnaceae. It is native in northern Mexico in the Sierra Madre Occidental cordillera, and mountainous, desert regions of the Southwestern United States of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and far west Texas; besides being found in Sonora, Chihuahua and Durango of the Occidental cordillera, a large species locale occurs to the east in Nuevo León.^[1]

Frangula betulifolia has large ovate leaves, and can grow to be a small tree from 3-10m tall. Blooms in spring, May–June, followed by black-purple fruits in fall. The inner bark was chewed by Native Americans for medicinal purposes.^[2]

Range

The core range of the birchleaf buckthorn is the northern Sierra Madre Occidental cordillera, from central Durango, north to west-southwest Chihuahua, and eastern Sonora; it also ranges just north at the Arizona-New Mexico, Sonora-Chihuahua borders,^[3] a region called the Madrean Sky Islands, of sky island mountain ranges.

Other medium-sized range locales occur at: central, southwest New Mexico, (an extension east from the Mogollon Rim–White Mountains of the Arizona transition zone); the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River with the range extending upriver into the Canyon Lands of southeast Utah; western Texas; and southern Nuevo León. Other states with more minor-sized locales are Nevada, Coahuila, and Tamaulipas.^[4]

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  Leaf w/Flowers

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  Leaf bottom

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  Close-up, Flower cluster

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  Buds, flowers, leaves

References

1. Little. Atlas of United States Trees, Volume 3, Minor Western Hardwoods, Map 149, Rhamnus betulaefolia.
2. Common and Traditionally Used Plants, NAU
3. Little. Map 149, Frangula betulifolia.
4. Little. Map 149, Frangula betulifolia.

• Little. Atlas of United States Trees, Volume 3, Minor Western Hardwoods, Little, Elbert L, 1976, US Government Printing Office. Library of Congress No. 79-653298. Map 149, Rhamnus betulaefolia.

External links

• CalPhotos
• NRCS: USDA Plants Profile, Frangula betulifolia ssp. obovata
• Northern Arizona Flora, Frangula betulaefolia var. obovata; Photo

Ethnobotany

• Common and Traditionally Used Plants, Rhamnus betulifolia; Photo