Common Name: BUCKTHORN FAMILY
Habit: [Perennial herb] shrub, tree, generally erect, often thorny. Leaf: simple, generally alternate, often clustered on short-shoots; stipules generally present, occasionally modified into spines; generally petioled; blade pinnate-veined or 1--5-ribbed from base. Inflorescence: cyme, panicle, umbel, or flowers 1 or clustered in axils or on short-shoots. Flower: generally bisexual, radial; hypanthium subtending, surrounding, or partly fused to ovary; sepals 4--5; petals 0, 4--5, generally clawed; stamens 0, 4--5, alternate sepals, attached to hypanthium top, each generally fitting into a petal concavity; disk (0 or) between stamens, ovary, thin to fleshy, entire or lobed, free from ovary, adherent or fused to hypanthium; ovary superior or +- inferior, chambers [1]2--4, 1--2-ovuled, style 1, stigma entire or 2--3-lobed. Fruit: capsule, drupe.
Genera In Family: 50--52 genera, 950 species: especially tropics, subtropics some cultivated (Ceanothus; Frangula; Rhamnus; Ziziphus).
eFlora Treatment Author: John O. Sawyer, Jr., except as noted
Scientific Editor: Steve Boyd, Thomas J. Rosatti.

Common Name: COFFEE BERRY
Habit: Shrub, small tree. Stem: branches alternate, flexible; winter bud scales 0. Leaf: scattered along branches or clustered on short-shoots, deciduous or not; stipules generally deciduous; petioled; blade veins prominent or not. Inflorescence: umbel or flowers 1 in axils. Flower: bisexual; hypanthium 1--3 mm wide, cup-shaped; sepals 5, erect, fleshy, keeled adaxially; petals 5, short-clawed; stamens 5; disk thin, adherent to hypanthium; ovary +- inferior, chambers 2--3, 1--2-ovuled, stigma 2--3-lobed. Fruit: drupe, 2--3[4]-stoned.
Etymology: (Frangible: capable of being broken) Note: Often a subg. of Rhamnus; some of value in food, medicine.
eFlora Treatment Author: John O. Sawyer, Jr.
Reference: Sawyer & Edwards 2007 Madroño 54:172--174
Unabridged Reference: Bolmgren & Oxelman 2004 Taxon 53:383--390; Wolf 1938 Rancho Santa Ana Bot Gard Monogr 1.

Common Name: CASCARA
Stem: bark gray; twigs green, gray, red, or dull brown, generally glabrous or densely hairy; terminal bud brown-hairy. Leaf: generally deciduous; petiole 5--25 mm; blade (50)80--150 mm, widely elliptic to obovate, generally thin, generally green, generally not papillate, glabrous to sparsely hairy, or blue- or green-gray, +- glaucous when fresh, papillate, densely hairy or velvety adaxially, light green, sparsely to densely hairy abaxially, base rounded, cordate, or tapered, tip obtuse to truncate or notched, margin entire to toothed, generally not wavy, veins prominent, 1°, 2°, 3° veins generally glabrous or sparsely hairy. Inflorescence: < 25-flowered; pedicel < 25 mm. Flower: hypanthium 3 mm wide. Fruit: 3-stoned, 5--10 mm, black.
Toxicity: Bark and fruit TOXIC in excess, especially to children. Note: Cathartic drugs from bark.