African boxthorn

Lycium ferocissimum

''Lycium ferocissimum'', the African boxthorn or boxthorn, is a shrub in the nightshade family . The species is native to the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, and Free State provinces in South Africa and has become naturalised in Australia and New Zealand. It is listed in Australia's Weed of National Significance list and is a declared noxious weed in the United States.
African boxthorn- Lycium ferocissimum Originally introduced to Australia ,and was used for live stock fencing as it has very sharp thorns which acted as a god deterrent. African boxthorn,Australia,Fall,Geotagged,Lycium ferocissimum

Appearance

African boxthorn is a large shrub which grows up to 5 metres high and is covered in spines.

The leaves are oval in shape and are 10–40 millimetres long and 4–10 millimetres in width.

The solitary flowers emerge from the leaf axils and are purplish.

The species was first formally described in 1854 by British botanist John Miers in the ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History''. His description was based on plant material collected from Uitenhage in South Africa.

References:

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Taxonomy
KingdomPlantae
DivisionAngiosperms
ClassEudicots
OrderSolanales
FamilySolanaceae
GenusLycium
SpeciesL. ferocissimum
Photographed in
Australia