Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Bursaria spinosa
Common name
Blackthorn, Boxthorn, Sweet Bursaria, Australian Blackthorn, Native Blackthorn
Family
Pittosporaceae
Where found
Forest, woodland, shrubland, grassy areas, disturbed areas, and rocky sites. Only subsp. spinosa grows in rainforest. Widespread.
subsp. lasiophylla: Widespread. Rare on the Western Slopes.
subsp. spinosa: Mostly coast and ranges. Occasionally elsewhere.
Notes
Shrub or tree to 10 m high. Bark rough, fissured into flakes. Branches usually with spines 6-12 mm long, the younger braches ending in spines. Older growth with no spines. Young stems sometimes hairy with simple hairs, becoming hairless. Leaves clustered under the spines or alternating up the stems, 0.2–4.3 cm long, 2–18 mm wide, margins thick, slightly down-turned; tips rounded to slightly notched with a mucro; leaf surfaces often hairless or almost so, or lower surface hairy.. Flowers fragrant, with 5 white or cream petals each 2–8 mm long. Flowers in usually branched clusters about 3–25 cm long. Flowering: throughout the year, but chiefly in summer. Seed cases flattened, brown, cordate.
subsp. lasiophylla: Multi-stemmed shrub usually less than 5 m high. Hairs moderately dense, appressed to the shoots, lower surface of the leaves, and the ovary, persisting with age. Leaves 0.2–3.5 cm long, 2–12 mm wide. Petals about 3-6 mm long.
Was Bursaria lasiophylla.
All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.
subsp. spinosa: Erect tree or shrub, 5–10 m high; hairs on new shoots and lower surface of leaves usually not persisting with age. Leaves 0.8–4.3 cm long, 3–18 mm wide. Petals 4–8 mm long.
PlantNET description of species and key to subspecies: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Bursaria~spinosa (accessed 6 January, 2021)
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a free mobile application:
