Philip Wright wrote:
Malcolm Manners wrote:

A friend has been telling me about a large shrub or small tree, and
I've finally seen a photo (but don't have it to attach, here), and I'm
wondering if someone here will have ideas about it.

It was found on a Florida beach as a seed. I don't know if it washed
up there from elsewhere, or if the parent plant was nearby.

It makes a creamy white, corky, quite furrowed bark. Leaves are
trifoliolate, with huge, Hybrid-Tea-rose-like prickles on the upper
side all along the midrib, and also on the underside on veins (I'm not
sure if just on the midrib). There are also big, thick prickles on
the twigs, usually two at a node and at least one on the internode.
Other than the prickles, the leaves remind me of Erythrina.

My friend has assumed it's a legume, and it may well be. It occurs to
me that it could also be Rutaceae, and I've asked him to look for
punctate dots on a leaf.

I'm reasonably good at Florida's native flora and much of our
cultivated exotic flora. I've never seen this plant before.

Any ideas? thanks.
Malcolm Manners


Could be Poncirus trifoliata. A picture would certainly be helpful...
http://tenn.bio.utk.edu/vascular/dat...0and%20Chester


-Philip

The leaves are much larger than Poncirus leaves. Leaflets are probably
close to 2 inches across. Also Poncirus does not have prickles. It
does have true thorns, at the nodes. I'm leaning toward erythrina.

If I can get a good digital picture, I'll try to post it.