African Box Thorn Advice? Experience?

[Jan]

I have been woirking on a couple of rescued African Box Thorns from a local scrap metal yard (yes, I know they are a weed and do burn all trimmings so they won't "get away" on me).

They must be tough as old boot to have survived me so far; they have small, dark green leaves, small flowers and interesting bark so they seemed to be worth a go - so far, so good.

Has anyone had any experience with this species? Any advice would be welcome.

Jan

[Amanda]

Hi Jan, no advice however I'd love to see a picture

[Jan]

Not much of a day for pictures here, Anja, cold and grey, but here it is.

I've been building branches and roots on this stump - the roots last time I repossed it were surprisingly fine, almost hairlike. I plan to do some serious carving, and probably burning, on the cut scar, possibly extending it to join with the bare timber towards the base of the plant and , hopefully, getting some character into the carved area by burning and brishing it back.

I'm hope someone else might have worked with this species to give me a head start on how it responds to bonsai treatment,

2010-06-05_African Box Thorn001rw.jpg

Jan

[Amanda]

Thanks for sharing that pic. Are there many thorns and how do you go about handling them?

[kvan64]

Looks very much like Firethrone to me

[Jan]

Yes, Anja, there are thorns, they are no more serious than on berberis and as long as you keep your eye out they aren't really a problem.

I've only known them a African Box Thorn; they ususlly grow as a single, sometimes multiple trunked, small tree. This one was taller than me and they were in the process of pulling it out with a tractor and were more than happy to cut off the top and major roots with a chain saw for me to take it home (I'm sure they thought that I was mad). They don't have the red or yellow berries that are the real feature of firethorn in our area. I'll have to do some more research on it to be sure kvan64.

Jan