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Frangula

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Frangula
Frangula alnus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rhamnaceae
Tribe: Rhamneae
Genus: Frangula
Mill.
Species

See text

Frangula is a genus of about 56 species of flowering shrubs or small trees, commonly known as buckthorn, in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. The common name buckthorn is also used to describe species of the closely related genus Rhamnus in the same family, and also the superficially similar but unrelated sea-buckthorn, Hippophae rhamnoides in the Elaeagnaceae.

Description

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Frangula species are deciduous or evergreen shrubs or small trees (to 12 metres tall in F. purshiana) with dark grey-brown to blackish bark; alternate, simple leaves with stipules, buds without bud scales, branches without spines; and flowers with five small petals (cf. usually four in Rhamnus) and undivided styles. The fruit is a two- to four-seeded berry; it is dispersed by birds.[1]: 279 [2]

Taxonomy

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The species were formerly usually included within Rhamnus as a subgenus,[3] but have increasingly been treated as a distinct genus in their own right.[2][4][5][6]

The designated lectotype species is Frangula alnus Mill., based on Rhamnus frangula L.[7]

The following species are accepted by the Plants of the World Online database (POWO):[4]

One natural hybrid is also accepted by POWO:[4]

Distribution

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The genus has a near-cosmopolitan distribution, occurring throughout most of Europe and the Americas, large parts of Asia, and the far northwest of Africa; it is absent from Africa south of the Sahara, the Indian Subcontinent, and Australasia.[4]

Uses

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The European species, alder buckthorn (Frangula alnus) was of major military importance in the 15th to 19th centuries, as its wood provided the best quality charcoal for gunpowder manufacture.[8]

As with Rhamnus species, the berries are a powerful purgative.[9]

References

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  1. ^ Stace, C. A. (2010). New Flora of the British Isles (Third ed.). Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. p. 88. ISBN 9780521707725.
  2. ^ a b "Frangula in Flora of North America @ efloras.org". eFloras.org Home. Retrieved 2026-01-29.
  3. ^ "Rhamnus in Flora of China @ efloras.org". eFloras.org Home. Retrieved 2026-01-29.
  4. ^ a b c d "Frangula". Plants of the World Online. 2006-08-05. Retrieved 2026-01-29.
  5. ^ Richardson, James E.; Fay, Michael F.; Cronk, Quentin C. B.; Bowman, Diane; Chase, Mark W. (2000). "A phylogenetic analysis of Rhamnaceae using rbcL and trnL‐F plastid DNA sequences". American Journal of Botany. 87 (9). Wiley: 1309–1324. doi:10.2307/2656724. ISSN 0002-9122.
  6. ^ Bolmgren, Kjell; Oxelman, Bengt (2004). "Generic limits in Rhamnus L. s.l. (Rhamnaceae) inferred from nuclear and chloroplast DNA sequence phylogenies". Taxon. 53 (2): 383–390. doi:10.2307/4135616. ISSN 0040-0262. Retrieved 2026-01-29.
  7. ^ "Frangula". International Plant Names Index. Retrieved 2026-01-29.
  8. ^ Francis Montagu Smith (1871). A handbook of the manufacture and proof of gunpowder, as carried on at the Royal Gunpowder Factory, Waltham Abbey. H.M. Stationery Office. pp. 26–. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  9. ^ Rushforth, K. (1999). Trees of Britain and Europe. Collins. pp. 709–710. ISBN 0-00-220013-9.
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