About Gymnosporia buxifolia (L.) Szyszyl.
Gymnosporia buxifolia is a variable evergreen shrub or tree that can grow up to 9 metres tall. It has light brown bark that darkens with age, and eventually becomes flakey, rough, corky and fissured. Individuals may be unarmed or armed with long straight spines up to 15 centimetres (six inches) in length. It shares the record for the longest unbranched thorns of any Dicot with Vachellia karroo; note that certain cacti have longer spines, which are not classified as thorns. The leaves are green, slightly paler on the underside, and glabrous. They are most often borne clustered on very short dwarf spur-branchlets in the axils of the spines, less frequently on young spines, or arranged spirally on new growth. Leaf shape is variable, but typically ranges from narrowly obovate to oblanceolate, measuring 25mm to 45mm long and 10mm to 25mm wide. Leaves have a toothed margin that is usually restricted to the upper half of the leaf, and the leaf tip is sometimes emarginate. Small white flowers with a strong odour are borne in heads. The fruit is a roughly spherical, 3-lobed capsule about 10mm in diameter. It is green-yellow when fresh, becoming grey-brown and wrinkled as it dries. This species grows in forests, scrub, grassland, woodland and riverine habitats.
