Lycium ferocissimum

African Boxthorn at Denman Prospect, ACT

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Identification history

Lycium ferocissimum	13 Apr 2018	BettyDonWood
Lycium ferocissimum	13 Apr 2018	RussellB
Unidentified	29 Sep 2017	MichaelBedingfield

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User's notes

Shrubs up to about two metres high............ scattered sparsely on the slopes to the west of the Molonglo River north of Wright.

3 comments

BettyDonWood wrote:

29 Sep 2017

I have marked this as a non-local native. It is a desert plant. The nearest record is well west of Wagga. It sounds as if these might be natural, a huge extension of range.

MichaelBedingfield wrote:

30 Sep 2017

Thanks Betty. They didn't appear to be planted and I thought they were a weed.

RussellB wrote:

13 Apr 2018

This is actually Lycium ferocissimum - the previous ID, Nitraria billardieri, is a much softer shrub that lacks the thickened spinescent branchlets that can be seen in these photos. The long tube on the corolla and the calyx structure is also distinctive for Lycium. The flowers are normally darker, but such pale flowers are known to occur in populations from time-to-time.

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