Smallflower Mock Buckthorn

Description

Small-flowered Buckthorn is a very odd shrub, seemingly halfway between a shrub and a vine. Leaning on other shrubs and trees for support, it can reach heights of 25 feet or so. Growing in shell middens and hammocks, Small-flowered Buckthorn is rare throughout its range along the immediate coast from Mississippi to NC, except in Florida, where it is widespread. One of the rarest shrubs in North Carolina, it is found in a few sites on Bogue Banks in Carteret County, the northern limit of its range, and has also been found in Onslow Co. Harry LeGrand discovered the population photographed here at Hoop Pole Creek Preserve in Atlantic Beach, NC.