Caragana decorticans Hemsl.

TSO logo

Sponsor this page

For information about how you could sponsor this page, see How You Can Help

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Caragana decorticans' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/caragana/caragana-decorticans/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

Glossary

appressed
Lying flat against an object.
calyx
(pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
ciliate
Fringed with long hairs.
imparipinnate
Odd-pinnate; (of a compound leaf) with a central rachis and an uneven number of leaflets due to the presence of a terminal leaflet. (Cf. paripinnate.)

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Caragana decorticans' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/caragana/caragana-decorticans/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

A deciduous shrub or small tree up to 15 or 18 ft high, densely branched, armed with spiny stipules 14 in. long. Leaves 1 to 112 in. long, pinnate in three to six pairs of leaflets which are oval or obovate, 14 to 12 in. long, spine-tipped, with appressed hairs on both surfaces but especially beneath; main leaf-stalk, spine-tipped but deciduous. Flowers bright pale yellow, 1 in. long, each borne on a very slender downy stalk, 34 in. long, jointed near the calyx; calyx bell-shaped, with a spiny-toothed, ciliate margin. Pod 112 to 2 in. long.

Native of Afghanistan; discovered in 1879 by Dr Aitchison in the Kurrum Valley. It belongs to the same group as C. arborescens in having spiny persistent stipules and deciduous leaf-stalks, but the leaves and pods are shorter and the calyx has longer teeth. Aitchison observes that ‘the bark is employed by the Afghans in the form of rings to slip over and hold the sheaths of their long knives in position in lieu of brasswork; the surface takes a good polish and when new resembles bronzed leather’. Flowers in June.