Family |
Rhamnaceae
Rhamnus lycioides
L.
Rhamnus lycioides L.
First published in Species Plantarum, ed. 2: 279 (1762)
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. CXLVI nº 2; 1969)
• Life-form & habit: Much-branched, rigid, spinescent shrub, commonly 1–2 m tall. Young twigs slender, pubescent when young, becoming glabrous with age; branches often ending in sharp spines.
• Leaves: Small, coriaceous, ± fascicled on short shoots; blade narrowly oblong to linear-lanceolate, entire, glabrous or nearly so, 6–15 mm long; margins slightly revolute; petiole very short.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Flowers in small axillary fascicles. Calyx 4-lobed; corolla absent (as in the genus). Flowers yellowish-green and inconspicuous. Stamens 4; disk present.
• Fruit: Globose drupe, red at first, turning black when ripe, 4–6 mm in diameter; usually 3-seeded.
• Phenology: Flowers March – April; fruits ripen in summer.
• Habitat & elevation: Rocky slopes, cliffs, dry open woodland, and garrigue; from lowlands to mid-elevation limestone regions.
• Lebanese distribution: Recorded by Mouterde from Saïda, Beirut, Nahr el-Kalb, Jounieh, Afqa, Bcharré, Hasroun, Ehden, Dimane, Qannoubine, and the Anti-Lebanon foothills. Particularly common on limestone outcrops and xeric slopes.
• Native range: Algeria, Baleares, Cyprus, East Aegean Islands, Greece, Lebanon, Syria, Morocco, Palestine, Spain, Türkiye (POWO).
• ⚠️ Taxonomic note: A highly polymorphic Mediterranean shrub often confused with Rhamnus punctata or R. oleoides. In Lebanon, Mouterde emphasises the rigid, spinescent branches and narrow, entire leaves as the diagnostic characters separating R. lycioides from related species.