Frangula caroliniana A.Gray

A shrub or small tree. The crown is spreading. The branches are slender. It grows 9 m high. The trunk is 15 cm across. The bark is grey and often with black patches. The leaves are 5-13 cm long and 2-4 cm wide. They are narrowly oval and have fine wavy teeth along the edge. The veins are almost straight. The leaves have rust coloured hairs when young. The mature leaves are dark green above and paler underneath. The leaves turn yellow in autumn. The flowers are 5 mm wide. They are bell shaped. There are 5 pointed greenish-yellow sepals. The flowers occur in clusters at the base of the leaves. The fruit are 10 mm across. They are berry like and turn from red to black. They contain 3 seeds.

Dry to moist barrens, sandy and gravelly flats, roadsides, ravines, bluffs, limestone bluffs, shell middens, bottomlands, swamp and pond edges, coastal hammocks, deciduous and coniferous forests; at elevations from 50-500 metres.

Can be grown by cuttings or seedlings.