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: SIERRA COFFEE BERRY
Habit: Shrub, < 2 m. Stem: bark red to bright gray; twigs red to gray; terminal bud hairy. Leaf: generally scattered along stem, deciduous; petiole 2--12 mm; blade 15--80 mm, narrowly elliptic to obovate, thin, green or gray, generally glabrous to finely hairy or abaxially puberulent on midrib, veins, acute to rounded at base, tip, margin finely toothed to entire, veins not prominent. Inflorescence: 4--15-flowered; pedicel 1--12 mm. Flower: hypanthium 2 mm wide. Fruit: 2(3)-stoned, 12 mm, black.
Note: 1 other subsp., in Nevada.
Unabridged Note: Frangula rubra subsp. nevadensis (A. Nelson) Kartesz & Gandhi in Nevada. The Frangula rubra complex is a group of closely related plants that needs study. In NV they reach only Douglas and Washoe counties. C.B. Wolf's descriptions (1938) provide only a single distinct character to separate the subspecies, but field and herbarium study argue for the recognition of infraspecific taxa even with the intermediates and variants. The range of Frangula rubra subsp. obtusissima, in central SN, is central, and Wolf reported "intergradations in various degrees" between it and all the other subspecies. Furthermore, Frangula rubra subsp. yosemitana and Frangula californica subsp. cuspidata grow along the east side of SN and can be easily confused. Plants of both taxa can be deciduous, but Wolf noted differences in pubescence and in leaf margin characters to differentiate the 2, although both are variable throughout their ranges.