Citation: L., Sp. Pl. 193 (1753).

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Blow-fly bush, (Italian) buckthorn.

Description:
Shrubs or trees to 5 m high; leaves lanceolate or ovate- to broad-elliptic, acute, leathery, dark-green above, paler below, serrate, 2-7.5 x 0.5-4, petioles 3-12 mm long.

Inflorescences with many male flowers and a few bisexual at the apex, 1-2 cm long; pedicels 1-2 mm long, to c. 3 mm long in fruit; flowers pale-green; floral tube c. 2 mm long, cup-shaped, persistent; sepals 5; ovary usually 3-celled

Fruits at first red, turning black or brown, obovoid-globose, grooved between the cells, apically impressed, c. 5 mm long.

	Rhamnus alaternus inflorescence and flower.
Image source: fig 428f in Jessop J.P. & Toelken H.R. (Ed.) 1986. Flora of South Australia (4th edn).

Distribution:  Grown as a hedge or shrub but commonly naturalised, from coastal dunes to inland wooded areas. S.Aust.: FR, EP, NL, MU, YP, SL, KI, SE.   N.S.W.; Vic.   native to the Mediterranean. Conservation status: native Flowering time: Aug. — Sept., rarely at other times.

SA Distribution Map based on current data relating to specimens held in the State Herbarium of South Australia

Biology: No text

Author: Not yet available