Menodora spinescens

Spiny desert olive

Family: Oleaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Spiny desert olive is a California native shrub found in desert regions with dense, mounded growth at elevations of 400 to 1,600 meters. Flowering from spring to early summer, this plant produces white flowers tinged with red or purple, with delicate obovate petals emerging from reddish buds. Growing 20 to 50 centimeters tall with multiple stems emerging from a short, stout trunk, the shrub develops distinctive spreading branches that terminate in sharp thorns, often appearing forked at branch ends. Its leaves are sparse and linear-oblanceolate, typically 4 to 10 millimeters long, three-cleft to the middle and densely covered in fine hairs. The fruit develops with each lobe opening irregularly, measuring 6 to 8 millimeters long and containing typically two smooth, elliptical seeds.

California counties: Inyo, San Bernardino, Del Norte, Mono, Kern, Riverside

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.