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Bursaria spinosa
Also called Sweet Bursaria, Australian Blackthorn, Christmas Bush, Native Blackthorn, Mock Orange, Prickly Pine, Boxthorn
Prickly Box is a small Australian tree or shrub, up to about 10 m, valued for its fragrant white summer flowers and as a food plant for butterflies and native bees. It is hardy and easy to grow from seed or cuttings, but its thorns make it better suited to barrier planting than close garden use.
Bursaria spinosa is a small tree or shrub in the family Pittosporaceae. The species occurs mainly in the eastern and southern half of Australia and not in Western Australia or the Northern Territory. Reaching 10 m (35 ft) high, it bears fragrant white flowers at any time of year but particularly in summer. A common understorey shrub of eucalyptus woodland, it colonises disturbed areas and fallow farmland. It is an important food plant for several species of butterflies and moths, particularly those of the genus Paralucia, and native bees.
Bursaria spinosa is widespread and common in the understorey of eucalypt woodland in all states of Australia, apart from Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
The drug aesculin, used in medical research and in the 1940s, as an ingredient in sunscreen, is harvested from the plant in the Sydney region. Although its thorns make it unpopular in cultivation, it can be useful as a deterrent barrier. It can be grown from fresh seed or from cuttings and is hardy in most situations. Bursaria spinosa provides nectar for butterflies and a haven for small birds.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Bursaria spinosa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
