General: Crucifixion Thorn (Canotia holacantha) is a more-or-less leafless shrub or small tree with upright green stems. The stems end with a spine, and the plant has persistent seed capsules. Except for the seed capsules, Crucifixion Thorn looks like a Palo Verde.

Crucifixion Thorn is an uncommon component of vegetation communities on well-drained gravelly and rocky soils and in washes on upper bajadas and moderate slopes into the lower mountains in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland) life zone.

Family: Staff-Tree (Celastraceae).

Other Names:

Plant Form: Upright, evergreen shrub.

Height: To 10-15 feet (max. 30 ft).

Bark: Gray-green, smooth

Stems: Gray-green, with a thorn at the tip

Leaves: Small, quickly deciduous.

Flowers:

Seeds: Fruit: capsules in groups of 5.

Habitat: Hillsides and washes on upper bajadas and moderate slopes into the lower mountains.

Elevation: middle elevations.

Distribution: Southeastern California, Arizona, and south into Mexico.

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