Indian Cherry or Yellow Buckthorn Tree
Indian Cherry, Yellow Buckthorn (Rhamnus Carolini-ana, Walt.)-A slender, spreading tree, 25 to 35 feet high, or a tall shrub; branches thornless. Bark ashy grey, blotched with black, shallowly furrowed; branches grey. Wood hard, light brown, close, brittle. Buds pointed, small. Leaves deciduous, alternate, elliptical, acute, faintly serrate, 2 to 5 inches long, yellow-green above, paler beneath; veins yellow. Flowers small, in axillary umbels, April to June.
Fruits, September; berry-like, 2 to 4-celled drupes, with dry, sweet, black flesh, red before it ripens. Preferred habitat, rich bottom lands and limestone hillsides.
Distribution, Long Island to Florida; west to Nebraska and Texas. Uses: Sometimes planted as an ornamental for its bright berries. Not hardy North.