California Prickbush

Description

Adolphia californica is a species of flowering shrub in the buckthorn family known by the common names California prickbush and spineshrub. It is native to Baja California and California no farther north than San Diego County. It is a resident of the local chaparral and coastal sage scrub plant communities. This is a branching shrub not exceeding a meter in height with thick hairless to fuzzy dark green twigs. The stiff twigs bear sharp thorns. The very sparse leaves are each less than a centimeter long and oval-shaped with a pointed or rounded tip. The shrub blooms abundantly in clusters of flowers along all the branches. Each flower is a star-shaped bowl of five pointed cream-colored sepals. Between the sepals are five tiny spoon-shaped cream-colored petals. The fruit is a spherical capsule about half a centimeter across.