Paliurus spina-christiMill.

Jeruselem thorn

WFO wfo-0000471780 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Paliurus spina-christi, photographed by Марина Садыкова
fig. a Марина Садыкова, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-02 / obs. 194242745
Paliurus spina-christi, photographed by Josep Gesti
fig. b Josep Gesti, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 192350513
Paliurus spina-christi, photographed by David Delon
fig. c David Delon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 189912921
Paliurus spina-christi, photographed by David Delon
fig. d David Delon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 176123645
Paliurus spina-christi, photographed by Gianni Del Bufalo bygdb
fig. e Gianni Del Bufalo bygdb, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 169631357
Paliurus spina-christi, photographed by Pavel Kacl
fig. f Pavel Kacl, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 160683974
Paliurus spina-christi, photographed by Théalie Dhellemmes
fig. g Théalie Dhellemmes, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 166012517
Paliurus spina-christi, photographed by Pavel Kacl
fig. h Pavel Kacl, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 159930830

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 23 botanical countries

Regions where Paliurus spina-christi is native: Afghanistan, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, Palestine, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Albania, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Italy, Krym, NW. Balkan Pen., Romania, Spain, Türkiye-in-Europe AfghanistanCyprusEast Aegean Is.IranIraqLebanon-SyriaNorth CaucasusPalestineTadzhikistanTranscaucasusTürkiyeTurkmenistanUzbekistanAlbaniaBulgariaFranceGreeceItalyKrymNW. Balkan Pen.RomaniaSpainTürkiye-in-Europe
Native distribution of Paliurus spina-christi, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Cyprus CYP
East Aegean Is. EAI
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Lebanon-Syria LBS
North Caucasus NCS
Palestine PAL
Tadzhikistan TZK
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Turkmenistan TKM
Uzbekistan UZB
Albania ALB EUROPE
Bulgaria BUL
France FRA
Greece GRC
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Romania ROM
Spain SPA
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 16 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Paliurus aculeatus Lam.
  • Paliurus australis Gaertn.
  • Paliurus clypeiformis Medik.
  • Paliurus incurvus Wall. ex Lindl.
  • Paliurus microcarpus Wilmott
  • Paliurus paliurus H.Karst.
  • Paliurus petasus Dum.Cours.
  • Paliurus solitarius Stokes
  • Paliurus trinervatus Moench
  • Paliurus vulgaris Steud.
  • Rhamnus australis Pers.
  • Rhamnus horrida Salisb.
  • Rhamnus paliurus L.
  • Ziziphus paliurus Willd.
  • Ziziphus spina-christi Georgi
  • Ziziphus spina-christi var. microphylla Hochst. ex A.Rich.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.