Rhamnus alaternus

The specific Latin name alaternus, is from the Latin word for the plant. Its origin is obscure but is often suggested to be of Etruscan or pre-Indo-European Mediterranean origin.{{cite book |last1=Walde |first1=Alois |last2=Hofmann |first2=Johann Baptist |date=1938 |title=Lateinisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch |location=Heidelberg |publisher=Carl Winter |url=https://archive.org/details/walde/page/n57/mode/2up}}

Rhamnus alaternus is an evergreen shrub {{convert|1|-|5|m}} high.Pignatti S. - Flora d'Italia – Edagricole – 1982. Vol. II, pag. 78 The stems have reddish bark and pubescent young branches, rounded and compact foliage with alternating leaves, {{convert|2|-|6|cm}} long, sometimes nearly opposite, oval or lanceolate, leathery, shiny green, yellowish-green underneath.

The small fragrant flowers are gathered in a short axillary yellow-green raceme. The flowering period extends from February to April. Fruits are obovoidal red-brownish drupes of about {{convert|3|-|4|mm}}, containing from 2 to 4 seeds. The drupes darken to black when ripe.

This species is widespread in thermophilic evergreen bush and scrubland of the Mediterranean climate regions, from Gran Canaria, Morocco and Portugal in the west, to the Levant in the east, from sea level up to {{convert|1300|m|abbr=on}} altitude.{{cite web |title=Rhamnus alaternus |url=http://www.floraiberica.es/floraiberica/texto/pdfs/09_109_03_Rhamnus.pdf |publisher=Flora Iberica |access-date=9 May 2021}}

In Australia, where it was introduced as a garden shrub, it has become a serious invasive woody weed in many areas, especially coastal parts of SE Australia. Here it displaces native shrubs of similar size such as the sea box, Alyxia buxifolia (an endemic plant which had an important medicinal role for aboriginal people). It prevents subshrubs and herbaceous ground cover native plants from surviving due the heavy shade and competition for moisture and nutrients. It can form dense thickets with very low biodiversity.{{cite web | url = https://keyserver.lucidcentral.org/weeds/data/media/Html/rhamnus_alaternus.htm | title = Rhamnus alaternus | website = Weeds of Australia | publisher = Queensland Government | access-date = 25 February 2021 }}

This species is cultivated as an ornamental garden shrub, valued for its glossy evergreen leaves and red berries. The variegated cultivar 'Argenteovariegata'{{cite web|title=RHS Plant Selector - Rhamnus alaternus 'Argenteovariegata'|url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/44576/Rhamnus-alaternus-Argenteovariegata-(v)/Details | access-date = 17 February 2021}} has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/pdfs/agm-lists/agm-ornamentals.pdf | title = AGM Plants - Ornamental | date = July 2017 | page = 84 | publisher = Royal Horticultural Society

| accessdate = 23 September 2018}}

• Rhamnus alaternus subsp. alaternus
• Rhamnus alaternus subsp. myrtifolia (Willk.) Maire
• Rhamnus alaternus subsp. pendula (Pamp.) Jafri

Aladern Rhamnus alaternus.jpg|{{center|Habit in Mallorca}}

Alaterne2.jpg|{{center|Habit in France}}

Rhamnus alaternus, manlike blomme, Meiringskloof, b.jpg|{{center|Male flowers, South Africa}}

Rhamnaceae - Rhamnus alaternus.JPG|{{center|Foliage and fruit, Italy}}

{{Reflist}}

• Pignatti S. - Flora d'Italia - Edagricole – 1982 Vol. II, pg. 78
• [http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=RHAL12 Plants.USDA]
• [https://www.biolib.cz/en/taxon/id217883/ Biolib]

{{Commons category}}

• [http://www.actaplantarum.org/floraitaliae/viewtopic.php?t=3276 Acta Plantarum]
• [http://luirig.altervista.org/flora/taxa/index1.php?scientific-name=rhamnus+alaternus Schede di Botanica]

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alaternus

Category:Garden plants of Europe

Category:Drought-tolerant plants

Category:Plants described in 1753

Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus

Category:Flora of Malta