Rhamnus alaternus Italian buckthorn

This Mediterranean evergreen is frequently mistaken for certain ceanothus due to the three strong veins ascending from the base of its glossy leaves. The blades, paler green beneath, are oval, neatly tapered at both ends, and usually shallowly toothed.

Lacking showy flowers – its inflorescences are stubby racemes of small yellow blooms – Italian buckthorn is easily overlooked. Female plants, however, produce ¼-inch fleshy fruit, deep red maturing to black, reminiscent of the larger fruit of our locally native coffeeberry, to which it is related. It readily self-sows: seedlings are often found sprouting at the base of trees in the Arboretum and in other untended areas of campus, and also appear uninvited in home gardens, where homeowners, grateful for its neat, no-fuss habit, will often leave them be.

A small, two-trunked tree holds pride of place in the Inner Quad, in the outer southwest island. At the Cantor Arts Center, plants are shaped into a hedge in the inner courtyard and along the west wall of the north wing. A tall, imposing hedge is between the Softball Stadium and Johnson Field, while newer plantings have appeared near Frost Amphitheater’s main entrance on Lasuen Street.

At Jasper Ridge one may encounter the related spiny redberry, R. crocea, a much smaller-leaved species.

Illustrations: branchlet.