On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 08:25:54 GMT, Sean Houtman
wrote:

wrote in
:

Hi, I come to petition to the all knowing group for help.

"All knowing"? This ain't alt.fan.cecil-adams here, but we can help
you with plant questions.



My wife and I were out hiking last week in teh east texas piney
woods region and stumbled across a very bad plant.

I say bad - the plant just looked evil - pliant green woody stems
seemingly only there to support the vast number of thorns, which
ranged from an inch to 5 inches long. The main mass of the plant
was thorn, the stems and thorns looked very similar, smooth and
green. The whole tree looked vaguely cloud-shaped, but smaller
plants were quite vine like. The largest trunk we saw was about
four inches in diameter, plants were all free standing.

The leaves were trefoil and smooth edged, obovoid (new word for
me), and were mostly shed for winter i suppose. No flowers that
we could see. The stem holding the leaves (pinnate?) seemed to be
trying to form a leaf of its own, with a central thickened area
and flat leafy part sticking out from it on 2 sides in the plane
of the 3 leaves, kind of like the flap of skin a flying squirrel
uses to glide.

Anyway, it was nasty, and i was wondering what it was. I couldnt
find it online or in any of the barnes and noble books i looked in
(though most of these were on gardening or landscaping and no one
in their right mind would actually plant one of these).

Thanks!


Oh, a photo would be nice, but I suppose I will have to try based on
description.

Erythrina herbacea (eastern coral bean) is prickly, trefoiled, grows
in that area, and doesn't flower in January.

Pressed specimen, the flowers have faded from red.
http://sidsite.nybg.org/herbim/1520/...0007914big.jpg
Photo of the plant.
http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/mbierner/b.../fab/erythrina
_herbacea.htm

Poncirus trifoliata (trifoliate orange) is spiny, trefoiled, grows
in that area as an introduction, and doesn't flower in January.

Photo of the plant
http://www.wegrowit.com/adams_images...ifoliata01.jpg
A photo of the leaf with the wings you describe.
http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook/trees/potr.html
Flowers and spines.
http://members.lycos.nl/DKG/fruittee..._trifoliata_bl
oemendoornen.jpg

If there were some things that looked like small oranges on or under
it, it is probably Poncirus.

Sean


Wow, thanks - there were no oranges but you sure nailed it - kudos.
And I learned from another site that the thing I was trying to
describe was a winged rachus.

I have no idea how "japanese hardy oranges" would have ended up deep
in the piney woods, but thanks for the ident. I looked up more
pictures to be sure and here are a few that show its more evil nature


http://www.manntaylor.com/plantweek6c.html

http://www.wegrowit.com/adams_images...ifoliata01.jpg

http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrol...trifoliata.htm

Jo