Flora of North America species comparison

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Frangula alnus

Frangula caroliniana

alder buckthorn, columnar buckthorn, European alder, European alder-buckthorn, fen buckthorn, glossy buckthorn, glossy false buckthorn, tall hedge buckthorn

Carolina buckthorn, Indian cherry
Habit Shrubs or small trees, 2–5(–7) m. Stems greenish to brown, sparsely puberulent, glabrescent. Shrubs or small trees, 2–6(–10) m. Stems gray, glabrous or pubescent.
Leaves

deciduous;

petiole 10–19 mm;

blade dull green abaxially, glossy darker green adaxially, broadly elliptic-obovate to broadly elliptic or broadly oblong, 4–7(–11) cm, herbaceous, base cuneate to rounded, margins entire, apex rounded to acute or abruptly short-acuminate, abaxial surface sometimes minutely strigose along midveins, adaxial surface glabrous;

secondary veins 6–10 pairs.

deciduous;

petiole 8–20 mm;

blade dull green abaxially, glossy dark green adaxially, oblong to elliptic or obovate-elliptic, (3–)5–13 cm, herbaceous, base cuneate to rounded, margins serrulate or crenulate to nearly entire, apex acute to acuminate or obtuse, abaxial surface puberulent on veins, adaxial surface glabrous;

secondary veins 6–9(–10) pairs.
Inflorescences

fascicles, sessile, 1–8-flowered.

umbels, pedunculate, 1–14-flowered.
Pedicels

3–10 mm.

3–6 mm.
Drupes

black, globose or slightly elongate, 6–8 mm;

stones 2(–3).

black, globose, 8–10 mm;

stones 3.
Stigmas

2–3-lobed.

3-lobed.
2n

= 20–26.

Frangula alnus

Frangula caroliniana
Phenology Flowering May–Sep. Flowering Apr–Jun.
Habitat Alkaline and acid tamarack, red maple and cedar swamps, peatlands, bogs, fens, disturbed areas, riparian thickets, lakeshores, ditches, fencerows, hedgerows, low woods, beaver meadows. Dry to moist barrens, sandy and gravelly flats, roadsides, ravines, bluffs, limestone bluffs, shell middens, bottomlands, swamp and pond edges, coastal hammocks, deciduous and coniferous forests.
Elevation 10–400 m. (0–1300 ft.) 50–500 m. (200–1600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CO; CT; IA; ID; IL; IN; KY; MA; ME; MI; MN; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; TN; VT; WI; WV; WY; MB; NB; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK; Europe [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Asia (China, Russia), n Africa]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; OH; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Two horticultural forms of Frangula alnus are widely sold and planted in North America. The cultivar 'Asplenifolia' (F. alnus var. asplenifolia Dippel; fern leaf or cutleaf buckthorn) has linear-oblong leaves with coarsely toothed to incised margins and commonly is grown as a specialty plant. The cultivar 'Columnaris' (tallhedge glossy buckthorn) has a narrow, upright habit and is used in hedging. Both forms were noted by M. H. Brand (http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/r/rhafra/rhafra1.html) to spread invasively by seeds. 'Asplenifolia' has been reported as naturalized in Ontario (A. W. Dugal 1989, 1992), Illinois (A. Branhagen, pers. comm.), and Ohio (M. K. Delong et al. 2005).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Rhamnus caroliniana var. mollis (type from Illinois, with leaves persistently soft-pubescent abaxially) has sometimes been recognized as a western/Ozarkian entity (for example, H. A. Gleason and A. Cronquist 1991), but intermediates and intergrades with the typical form (with leaves glabrescent abaxially) are as numerous as the extremes.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 59. FNA vol. 12, p. 58.
Parent taxa Rhamnaceae > Frangula Rhamnaceae > Frangula
Sibling taxa
F. betulifolia, F. californica, F. caroliniana, F. obovata, F. purshiana, F. rubra
F. alnus, F. betulifolia, F. californica, F. obovata, F. purshiana, F. rubra
Synonyms Rhamnus frangula Rhamnus caroliniana, R. caroliniana var. mollis
Name authority Miller: Gard. Dict. ed. 8, Frangula no. 1. (1768) (Walter) A. Gray: Gen. Amer. Bor. 2: 178. (1849)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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